The Dreadful Monster and its Poor Relations: Taxing, Spending and the United Kingdom, 1707-2021

Description

A wide-ranging, thought-provoking introduction to British tax history 'There is almost no issue of public interest which does not derive from taxes or end up with taxes' Alexis de Tocqueville It has always been an important part of British self-image to see the United Kingdom as an ancient, organic and sensibly managed place, in striking contrast to the convulsions of other European countries. To a limited degree this is true, but, as Julian Hoppit makes clear in this fascinating and surprising book, beneath the complacent surface the United Kingdom has in fact been in a constant, often very tense argument with itself about how it should be run and, most significantly, who should pay for what. The book takes its argument from an eighteenth century cartoon which shows the central state as the 'Dreadful Monster', gorging itself at the dinner table on all the taxes it can grab. Meanwhile the 'Poor Relations' - Scotland, Wales and Ireland, both poor because of tax but also poor in the sense of needing special treatment - are viewed in London as an endless 'drain on the state'. With drastically different levels of prosperity, population, industry, agriculture and accessibility between the United Kingdom's different nations, what is a fair basis for paying for the state?

Julian Hoppit is Astor Professor of British History at University College London. He is the author of Risks and Failure in English Business, 1700-1800, A Land of Liberty?- England 1689-1727 and Britain's Political Economies- Parliament and Economic Life, 1660-1800.

An engaging account of three centuries of the UK's economic history ... Hoppit outlines an agenda for reform. -- Jonathan Portes * Prospect * A meticulous fiscal narrative of the union with Scotland, the 19th century equivalent with Ireland, and devolution of taxes more recently ... [Hoppit shows] the importance of taxation to history and contemporary politics, providing an invaluable primer to some of the underlying tensions behind contemporary political debate. -- Chris Giles * Financial Times * Hoppit shows how the history of financial relations within the United Kingdom is profoundly relevant to the current constitutional debate ... Hoppit steers the reader deftly through complex historical statistics ... provides much useful ammunition. -- Vernon Bogdanor * Daily Telegraph *