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Charles Adams

Works Published inThe Free MarketSpeeches and PresentationsMises Daily Article

Charles Adams (1930-2013) was an attorney in private practice and a specialist in international taxation. He wrote extensively on taxes and their impact on civilization, for outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. He was also an adjunct scholar at the Mises Institute and the Cato Institute. Among other books he was the author of For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization.

All Works

A New History of Taxation

7. After the Magna Carta

Legal SystemTaxes and SpendingWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Does liberty sow the seeds of its own destruction? Yes, by consenting to excessive taxes. Government will not want to give up the power. Taxes were to be only for common defense, not offensive wars.
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A New History of Taxation

8. The Civil War

Taxes and SpendingU.S. HistoryWar and Foreign Policy

09/06/2004Mises Media
A tariff set the stage for the American Civil War. The quarrel between the North and the South was a fiscal quarrel, not a war over slavery. The tariff of 1828 was called the tariff of abomination. Nullification was a strong argument to void unconstitutional federal laws.
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A New History of Taxation

9. American Taxation

Legal SystemPolitical Theory

09/06/2004Mises Media
The Laffer Curve from the 1920s reflects the truism that a 77 percent tax rate produces the same amount of revenue as a 7 percent tax rate. Once the tax rate exceeds twenty-five percent, less will be collected.
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A New History of Taxation

10. Learning from the Past: What History Teaches

Taxes and SpendingU.S. HistoryWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Adams suggests nine reform items to tame the tax monster: 1) tear down the spy system, 2) establish a crime for tax extortion as well as a civil action for damages, 3) establish a civil action for damages for tortious tax administration including: malicious tax investigations, extortions, leaked...
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A New History of Taxation

1. The Making of a Tax Historian

BiographiesLegal SystemTaxes and Spending

09/06/2004Mises Media
Charles Adams, the tax writer, tells young people to get a liberal education and go with the flow. He took tax law and he taught history. He saw that there was a tax story behind every event. Taxes, not slavery, caused the Civil War.Taxes began in Sumer. “Taxes are the fuel that make civilizations...
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