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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

2. The Bible's World of Taxes

Taxes and SpendingWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Adams begins this session with facts about taxation being the basis of the Civil War, not slavery. If the British had not taxed the colonies, the colonies would have remained with Britain and slavery would have been ended when Britain ended it. The thousand year history of the Romans covered...
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A New History of Taxation

3. The Kaleidoscopic Romans

Taxes and SpendingWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Adams begins with a few tidbits: taxation problems caused the end of Egypt and the taxes that the Greeks put on the Jews were an excessive one-third. Sulla of Rome created special tax agents, essentially IRS agents, to collect taxes. Cicero felt that the era of chaos made a military dictatorship...
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A New History of Taxation

4. The Middle Ages

Taxes and SpendingWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Lady Godiva’s naked ride on her horse was a protest over taxes. Ship money for war ships was collected in Britain even though there was then no war.
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A New History of Taxation

5. The Swiss: From William Tell to No Tell

Taxes and SpendingWorld History

09/06/2004Mises Media
Note:The Swiss are not mentioned in this lecture. King Solomon, king of Israel from 970 to 931 BC, lusted after women as he grew older. He had a thousand wives and concubines. Solomon spent tax moneys for luxurious palaces and his harem. His treasury was soon empty, so he found new ways to drain...
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History of Liberty Seminar 2001

The History of Taxation

Legal SystemTaxes and SpendingPolitical Theory

03/01/2004Mises Media
Charles Adams is a rare tax historian who leads us back to Greeks and Romans and the history of liberty. The Battle of Marathon was critical for Greek civilization to seize control of Western Civilization. The Greeks had no direct taxation, just indirect. This is what fostered liberty.
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