Introduction: maximising revenues, minimising political costs – challenges in the history of public finance of the early modern period

Abstract

Taxation is accepted as a fact of modern life, despite recurring political conflict over the nature and direction of fiscal policies. Most financiers regard obligations issued by the state as a safe investment option. Neither taxation nor state obligations were taken for granted during much of the history of public finance, however, at least not before the early 1800s. The ‘tax state’ developed in fits and starts, driven by the exigencies of warfare, which provided the main rationale for raising state income. Although wartime fiscal innovations eventually facilitated the rise of an efficient military state, the options available for implementing such improvements and preferences for specific fiscal or financial instruments varied greatly across early modern states. Focusing on the ‘long’ eighteenth century, this introduction presents a framework for assessing these differences and introduces the other articles in this special issue.

Conceptualizing the fiscal state: implications for sub-Saharan Africa

“…We are not interested in a state's capacity to tax or borrow per se but rather in states' relative dependence and composition of revenue sources as this holds implications for the sustainability of states' public finances. A balance of taxation and borrowing is essential to the fiscal state (Bonney, 1999; Hart et al ., 2018). We briefly elaborate on this balance before introducing a typology of fiscal states based on our definition.…”

The Role Of Taxes In The Indonesian Economy

“…Fiscal efficiency and taxation systems can increase state revenues with low tax costs. This is of course very profitable because more and more money is used for economic development (Hart, Brandon, & Sánchez, 2018). Tax efficiency is also required to eradicate corruption.…”

Fiscal states in sub-Saharan Africa: conceptualization and empirical trends

“…Therefore, we are not interested in a state's capacity to tax or borrow in itself, but argue that states' relative dependence and composition of revenue sources are of key interest. This has implications for the sustainability of states' public finances, where a balance of tax and borrowing is essential to the fiscal state (Bonney 1999;Hart et al 2018). We briefly elaborate on this balance before introducing a typology of fiscal states based on our definition.…”