Taxation

In addition to his two most important works, one might also mention in the present context a few other publications whose law and economics aspect is more incidental, but which fill the picture of Laspeyres’ interest in realism and the effects of regulations in this regard.

The very long former article includes the entire general-theoretical treat­ment of taxes (see 1867, 105 n. *); it therefore basically forms a comprehensive article on public finance. The parts of this entry that deal with state income or revenues (pp. 94-146) could form an excellent basis for an introduction class even today. The segment on taxes (pp. 105-46) deserves special mention, since here, Laspeyres argues for a proportional tax on the ‘enjoyments’ or benefits of the individual citizen (p. 106), including - in an almost Estonian way - that there should be no tax on reinvestments, but only on the income from these (pp. 109-10). Although these essays are perhaps the most doctri­naire and unrealist in his oeuvre, realism - as we saw in the case of Smithianism in the History - occasionally breaks its path.