Dear all, Sorry for the previous message, which was totally wrong. What I would like to say is as follows: As I understand the four principles of taxation in WN, it is rather difficult to believe that Smith "supported mildly progressive taxation." Eric, you are kindly requested to indicate you URL where I can take a look at your PhD thesis. Cheers, Yukihiro Ikeda Eric Schliesser ????????: > Adam Smith supported mildly progressive taxation. Rothbard is quite critical of Smith over this. > I wrote about this in my PhD thesis (easily available online), where I show that Smith can be construed as even more progressive than Rothbard thought. > > Sent from Iphone > Eric Schliesser > Bof Research Professor > Philosophy and moral Sciences, > Ghent university > Ghent, 9000, Belgium > Tel: (31)-(0)6-15005958 > > On 3 jun 2010, at 17:49, CARLOS RODRIGUEZ BRAUN <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Among the old fallacies that have enjoyed a renaissance with the current economic crisis is the supposedly impeccable idea of taxing "the rich". I think that classical economists favoured in general indirect against direct taxes, and did not support a permanent income tax, and even less a progressive one. Can J.S.Mill stand as an exception? Was there an economist who supported progressive taxation in the classical period, or perhaps before? > > Carlos Rodríguez Braun > > > >