Raising revenue in the British empire, 1870–1940

How ‘extractive’ were colonial taxes

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12876337
AutoresEwout Frankema (0000-0002-7504-2817, Utrecht University, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume5
Fascículo3
Páginas447-477
Data de publicação2010-10-27
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Global History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1740-0228 • E-ISSN: 1740-0236
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1740022810000227
OpenAlexW2141447435
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas32
Referências citadas15

Colonial tax systems have shaped state–economy relationships in the formative stages of many present-day nation-states. This article surveys the variety in colonial tax systems across thirty-four dominions, colonies, and protectorates during the heyday of British imperialism (1870–1940), focusing on a comparison of colonial tax levels. The results are assessed on the basis of different views in the literature regarding the function and impact of colonial fiscal regimes: are there clear differences between ‘settler’ and ‘non-settler’ colonies? I show that there is little evidence for the view that ‘excessive taxation’ has been a crucial characteristic of ‘extractive institutions’ in non-settler colonies because local conditions (geographic or institutional) often prevented the establishment of revenue-maximizing tax machineries. This nuances the ‘extractive institutions’ hypothesis and calls for a decomposition of the term ‘extractive institutions’ as such

Colonialism · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Empire · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Public economics · Revenue · State (computer science · Tax revenue · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Corporate Taxation and Avoidance · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Accounting