Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tax politics were structured by a bitter class struggle. Much of this struggle revolved around the government's competence to ensure the appropriate liberty, equality of opportunity and fairness to individuals, and the use of governmental power to amel...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Creighton University * School of Law
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45010 |
| _version_ | 1848757163235737600 |
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| author | Charlton, Guy Skilling, P. |
| author_facet | Charlton, Guy Skilling, P. |
| author_sort | Charlton, Guy |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tax politics were structured by a bitter class struggle. Much of this struggle revolved around the government's competence to ensure the appropriate liberty, equality of opportunity and fairness to individuals, and the use of governmental power to ameliorate social and economic problems. For much of the 20th century, however, income tax was framed in a "hegemonic logic" in which re-distributive concerns were subordinated to an assumption of the shared benefits of economic growth. This Article discusses the recent return of a class-based politics to income tax politics in the United States. Drawing on the problem definition and narrative analysis literature, it argues that despite the recent resurgence of class-based rhetoric and political action, it is unlikely that America will return to the redistributive zero-sum income tax policies advocated prior to the 1920s. The underlying premises of the historical American liberal state, as evidenced in early substantive due process decisions: liberty, equality, and a distrust of governmental authority, which suggest a continuous fear of governmental power being used to interfere with individual liberty, circumscribes the debate over tax policy and lessens its class basis. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:23:43Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-45010 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:23:43Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Creighton University * School of Law |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-450102017-01-30T15:17:47Z Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy Charlton, Guy Skilling, P. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tax politics were structured by a bitter class struggle. Much of this struggle revolved around the government's competence to ensure the appropriate liberty, equality of opportunity and fairness to individuals, and the use of governmental power to ameliorate social and economic problems. For much of the 20th century, however, income tax was framed in a "hegemonic logic" in which re-distributive concerns were subordinated to an assumption of the shared benefits of economic growth. This Article discusses the recent return of a class-based politics to income tax politics in the United States. Drawing on the problem definition and narrative analysis literature, it argues that despite the recent resurgence of class-based rhetoric and political action, it is unlikely that America will return to the redistributive zero-sum income tax policies advocated prior to the 1920s. The underlying premises of the historical American liberal state, as evidenced in early substantive due process decisions: liberty, equality, and a distrust of governmental authority, which suggest a continuous fear of governmental power being used to interfere with individual liberty, circumscribes the debate over tax policy and lessens its class basis. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45010 Creighton University * School of Law restricted |
| spellingShingle | Charlton, Guy Skilling, P. Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title | Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title_full | Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title_fullStr | Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title_short | Legal and Policy Narratives and the Return of Class in American Tax Policy |
| title_sort | legal and policy narratives and the return of class in american tax policy |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/45010 |