Trusting Leviathan

Professor Martin Daunton''s major work of original synthesis explores the politics of taxation in the long nineteenth century. In 1799 income tax stood at 20% of national income; by the outbreak of the First World War it was 10%. This equitable exercise in fiscal containment lent the government a high level of legitimacy allowing it to fund war and welfare in the twentieth century. Combining new research with a comprehensive survey of existing knowledge this book examines the complex financial relationship between the State and its citizens.