Thread by @adamsmithworks

Having said what he had to say about taxes on rent and profits, #AdamSmith pauses, now, for an appendix to handle the taxation of the land and stock that generate rent and profit. (V.ii.h) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Dear readers, we hope you are tax nerds. (We still and forever ❤ you, nerds.) @TurboTax @IRSnews @HRBlock (V.ii.h) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Taxing the revenue generated by land or stock doesn't diminish the ability of that land or stock to generate revenue. But taxing away a portion of the revenue-generating property does. (V.ii.h.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

This taxation generally happens when property is changing hands. Especially where the sale is conspicuous, as in the case of lands and houses or when someone dies. In these cases, the transaction can be taxed directly. (V.ii.h.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Here are some ways that you can tax these things:
- Directly in the case of conspicuous transactions
- Stamp duties (papers for transactions must be stamped to be valid)
- Duties for a required public record of the transfer
(V.ii.h.1–2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Sometimes the tax varies based on the relationship between the deceased person and their heirs. (V.ii.h.4) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

This makes sense, says Smith: the death of a father whose children live with him makes them poorer. But inheritance by adult children with their own households increases their fortune. (V.ii.h.4) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Land transfer taxes were a major source of revenue for the government under feudal law, but they were also onerous. (V.ii.h.5–6) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

In Britain, stamp duties in Smith's time depended not on the value of the property being transferred but on the type of deed being written (this would make them unequal). Britain didn't have registration duties. (V.ii.h.9) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Even though stamp-duties and registration duties are new, they're pretty universal. Why? "There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people." #SmithSnark (V.ii.h.12) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

(That might be our favorite #SmithSnark)
"There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people." #SmithSnark (V.ii.h.12)

There's no way around inheritance taxes falling on the heir. But Smith thinks it's worth asking on whom the burden of the tax for other property transfers falls. (V.ii.h.13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

People selling property almost always *have* to sell, while buyers rarely *have* to buy. It's easy to imagine that the burden of the tax falls on the relatively privileged seller, which makes these taxes crueller and more oppressive. (V.ii.h.13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

[We, the SmithTweeters, are looking in vain for the heartless, greed-driven, ruthless capitalist Adam Smith that we've heard so much about.] (V.ii.h.13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Taxes on transferred property enrich the government at the expense of the people who would otherwise use that property to make the country richer. They're an "unthrifty" tax. (V.ii.h.14) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Also, taxes on property transfers are unequal...though they do meet the other three maxims of good taxation. (V.ii.h.15) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Duties on registration are badly abused in France. The officers who administer them extort the farmers. It doesn't have to be this way with these taxes, but in France it was. (V.ii.h.16) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Not all duties of registration (even when they're not French and corrupt) are created equal.
Registered mortgages are good for everyone.
Forcing the registration of every transfer of property would be bad for everyone. (V.ii.h.17) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

The credit and the security of private individuals ought never to be trusted to the "probity and religion of the inferior officers of revenue". #SmithSnark (V.ii.h.17) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Even public harm, cruelty and oppression, the ruin of private investors, and the corruption of officers aren't likely to stop the government from multiplying these sorts of taxes, though, if it depends on them for revenue. (V.ii.h.13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

We, the SmithTweeters, are starting to think that Adam Smith was not an especially big fan of these sorts of taxes. (V.ii.h.13) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

There are a bunch of things called stamp-duties that are not the types of stamp-duties Adam Smith has been talking about today. They are, properly, taxes on consumption. We'll get to those tomorrow! See you then! (V.ii.h.14) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets