Tax, Order, and Good Government
A New Political History of Canada, 1867-1917
The history of Confederation rewritten through the redistribution of wealth.
Description
Was Canada’s Dominion of 1867 an experiment in political domination? Looking to taxes provides the answer: they are a privileged measure of both political agency and political domination. To pay one’s taxes was the sine qua non of entry into political life, but taxes are also the point of politics, which is always about the control of wealth. Modern states have everywhere been born of tax revolts, and Canada was no exception. E. A. Heaman shows that the competing claims of the propertied versus the people are hardwired constituents of Canadian political history.
Reviews
"Heaman's work drives home the centrality of tax debate and even tax revolt in the founding of Canada. Some themes of Canada's early tax history have been covered by other scholars and are by now familiar (for example, the tension between the federal and
"Elsbeth Heaman provides a path-breaking history of Canadian taxation from Confederation up until the introduction of the progressive income tax. All Canadians interested in the history and growth of the nation will want to read this meticulously research
"E. A Heaman has produced a decided masterpiece on a topic too often thought to be dry as a bone. This terrific book helps us better understand the contested nature of fiscal citizenship and our inevitable rendezvous with the quintessentially political issues of revenue, wealth, and poverty. " BC Studies
"This book shows that the history of taxation is not only important – it can also be provocative, infuriating, and exciting. Tax, Order, and Good Government is an essential read for all historians of Canada. " Eric Sager, University of Victoria
"Tax, Order, and Good Government will not appeal to those who want a quick fix. It is dense and detailed. It is also artfully written and a good deal wittier than a 460-page book on taxation has any right to be. " Quebec Writer's Federation Mavis Gallant P
"Elsbeth Heaman's outstanding book places taxation where it belongs, at the heart of Canadian history. She explores with great discernment and lucidity issues ranging from the nature of Confederation, and the changing ideologies of parties and their coalitions of interests, to the meanings of race, poverty, wealth and fairness, and the treatment of land, business, and finance. This is no narrow and technical account of taxation, but a brilliant use of fiscal politics to illuminate the major questions in Canadian history. Historians of other countries will gain from her insights, for she is alert to the connections between debates in Canada and in the United States and Britain and many of the same issues arose in Australia and New Zealand. The book is a contribution not only to Canadian history but also to that of the wider world. " Martin Daunton, Faculty of History, Cambridge University