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Prologue: Taxation without Representation

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American Taxation, American Slavery
This chapter is in the book American Taxation, American Slavery
Taxation without RepresentationOn July 12, 1789, two days before the event we usually identify as the begin-ning of the French Revolution, a mob set out to demolish a wall that one of themost powerful corporations in France had been building around Paris for sixyears. The wall was being built by the Farmers General (fermiers-généraux), acorporation of tax farmers that had held the contract (“farm”) to collect manyof the monarchy’s taxes since 1726. One of these taxes, the entrées de Paris,was a levy on goods brought into Paris, including food, beverages, and build-ing materials. The entréesinvolved a bewildering array of rates on particularitems and preferential rates on items intended for particular buyers. In 1774,the Farmers General stationed 453 collectors and guards at 29 toll gates acrossthe roads into Paris, requiring that certain goods enter the city at certain gates.But because the gates had been erected fifty years earlier, decades of urbangrowth had made them easy to evade. A wall enclosing the whole city wouldsolve the problem. It was a grand project. Designed by a leading architect, itfeatured richly ornamented customshouse pavilions at 66 toll gates plus broadinner and outer boulevards. By July 1789 it was almost finished, with 45 ofthe new customshouses in place. Almost everyone in France hated the taxfarmers. Parisians especially hated the wall. If the Bastille prison, stormed onJuly 14, is the most famous symbol of the tyranny of the French Old Regime,the wall and its pavilions actually were the first targets of mob action in Paris.The tax farmers survived for five more years. The corporation stopped col-lecting taxes in 1790. Its last 28 partners were guillotined in 1794.1There are several noteworthy aspects of the history of the Farmers General.Perhaps the most obvious is that it provides an object lesson about the perilsof “privatizing” public services. Anyone who thinks that the U.S. Internal Rev-enue Service is an oppressive bureaucracy should consider the history of tax11
© 2019 University of Chicago Press

Taxation without RepresentationOn July 12, 1789, two days before the event we usually identify as the begin-ning of the French Revolution, a mob set out to demolish a wall that one of themost powerful corporations in France had been building around Paris for sixyears. The wall was being built by the Farmers General (fermiers-généraux), acorporation of tax farmers that had held the contract (“farm”) to collect manyof the monarchy’s taxes since 1726. One of these taxes, the entrées de Paris,was a levy on goods brought into Paris, including food, beverages, and build-ing materials. The entréesinvolved a bewildering array of rates on particularitems and preferential rates on items intended for particular buyers. In 1774,the Farmers General stationed 453 collectors and guards at 29 toll gates acrossthe roads into Paris, requiring that certain goods enter the city at certain gates.But because the gates had been erected fifty years earlier, decades of urbangrowth had made them easy to evade. A wall enclosing the whole city wouldsolve the problem. It was a grand project. Designed by a leading architect, itfeatured richly ornamented customshouse pavilions at 66 toll gates plus broadinner and outer boulevards. By July 1789 it was almost finished, with 45 ofthe new customshouses in place. Almost everyone in France hated the taxfarmers. Parisians especially hated the wall. If the Bastille prison, stormed onJuly 14, is the most famous symbol of the tyranny of the French Old Regime,the wall and its pavilions actually were the first targets of mob action in Paris.The tax farmers survived for five more years. The corporation stopped col-lecting taxes in 1790. Its last 28 partners were guillotined in 1794.1There are several noteworthy aspects of the history of the Farmers General.Perhaps the most obvious is that it provides an object lesson about the perilsof “privatizing” public services. Anyone who thinks that the U.S. Internal Rev-enue Service is an oppressive bureaucracy should consider the history of tax11
© 2019 University of Chicago Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of Tables, Figures, and Maps ix
  4. Acknowledgments xi
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Prologue: Taxation without Representation 11
  7. Part I. Colonial Tax Systems 24
  8. Part II. National Tax Politics 110
  9. Part III. The Synthesis in the States 200
  10. Epilogue: James Madison on Slave Taxes 251
  11. Appendix: How to Talk about Taxes 257
  12. Notes 271
  13. Index 327
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https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226194899-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of Tables, Figures, and Maps ix
  4. Acknowledgments xi
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Prologue: Taxation without Representation 11
  7. Part I. Colonial Tax Systems 24
  8. Part II. National Tax Politics 110
  9. Part III. The Synthesis in the States 200
  10. Epilogue: James Madison on Slave Taxes 251
  11. Appendix: How to Talk about Taxes 257
  12. Notes 271
  13. Index 327
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