Introduction

Abstract

Mark Twain once said that the only two things certain in life are death and taxes. The great philosophers knew this. Almost as soon as political philosophers provided a rationale for government, others began to debate the purpose and appropriateness of taxes. Soon economists began to assert not only what taxes ought to support, but who ought to pay these taxes, and why. Intertwined in this discussion are the ways in which government spends the revenues they raise, to provide for public goods or to redistribute income.