Abstract
A major objective of setting up this congress was to further the academic and public debate on taxing consumption, but I especially hope that this congress will contribute to a more intensive consideration in the debate on the German tax reform of the opportunities, and of course risks, connected with the different approaches towards a consumption-based tax system.
Every tax like every other social institution will outlive the period of its economic and psychological appropriateness. But as in all other social institutions, in tax systems rigidities will not live for ever: they will be washed-out gradually by the flow of time. Thus, income tax will disappear together with the economic system and mentality [of the bourgeois liberalism], to which it owes its existence.
Joseph A. Schumpeter1
Slightly extended version of the lecture held at the opening ceremony of the congress. Some expositions refer especially to the German debate on the reform of the German tax system. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Antoinette Broek, who translated the German text. I would also like to thank Michael Ahlheim for helpful suggestions on an earlier version.
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Rose, M. (1990). The Superiority of a Consumption-based Tax System. In: Rose, M. (eds) Heidelberg Congress on Taxing Consumption. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75791-4_1
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