Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk on Robert Meyer’s Principles of Just Taxation (1885)

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk’s review of Robert Meyer’s Die Principien der gerechten Besteuerung in der neuen Finanzwissenschaft (Berlin, 1884) evaluates a systematic inquiry into fiscal justice. Its starting point is the gap between agreement on the generality and equality of taxation and disagreement over their meaning:

So allgemein aber die Anerkennung dieser Schlagworte ist, so wenig ist man über die Tragweite einig, die ihnen in abstracto sowohl, als in concreto zukommt.

English translation: But however general the recognition of these catchwords is, just as little is there agreement about the scope which belongs to them in abstracto as well as in concreto.

Böhm-Bawerk distinguishes competing standards of equality—taxation according to benefits received from the state, ability to pay, or equality of sacrifice—from controversies about their practical application. Even accepting a standard leaves unresolved the treatment of income from property and other income, proportional versus progressive taxation, and exemption of the subsistence minimum. The review thus presents fiscal justice as a problem of both conceptual definition and institutional implementation.

Meyer’s three-part structure follows this breadth of inquiry: a history of doctrine occupying more than 180 pages; an examination of taxation’s effects on private economic activity; and a constructive account of principles and their practical consequences. Böhm-Bawerk reports that Meyer interprets equality through ability to pay and equality of sacrifice, treating these as identical in a qualified sense. Meyer advocates exemption of the subsistence minimum, progressive taxation of higher incomes, lighter taxation of income not derived from property, attention to individual needs, and conditional permission for wealth taxes alongside income taxes.

A particularly revealing move is Meyer’s inclusion of certainty among the requirements of justice, although others classify it as a principle of tax policy. This supports his strong criticism of delayed assessments and supplementary assessments. Justice concerns not only the distribution of burdens but also the way tax liabilities are determined.

Böhm-Bawerk’s judgment is favorable without endorsing every conclusion:

Für die Mehrzahl seiner Entscheidungen gibt der Verfasser sehr wohl erwogene und sorgfältig ausgeführte Motivirungen, zum Theil unter Aufstellung neuer Gesichtspunkte.

English translation: For the majority of his decisions the author gives very well-considered and carefully elaborated justifications, in part by setting up new points of view.

The qualification matters: the review praises the reasoning behind most decisions rather than establishing their universal correctness. Meyer’s calm argument and pursuit of precision are intellectual strengths, but the same impulse can become excessive classification:

Im Zusammenhange damit steht offenbar auch die Vorliebe des Verfassers für streng logisches Schematisiren und Auseinanderhalten der Einzelfälle, worin er allerdings bisweilen des Guten zu viel thut, so dass ihm der Stoff hie und da in eine lose Reihe casuistischer Excurse zerbröckelt.

English translation: Evidently connected with this is also the author's predilection for strictly logical schematizing and keeping apart of individual cases, in which, to be sure, he now and then does too much of a good thing, so that here and there the material crumbles for him into a loose series of casuistic excursuses.

The review closes by recommending the book to theoretical and practical specialists despite its occasional diffuseness and lack of animation. Its significance lies in showing how contested notions of tax equality generate concrete policy choices, while judging systematic reasoning by its capacity to clarify those choices without dissolving into casuistry.