Taxation evolved from gifts and penalties to chiefs

Evidence

The antecedents of exchange are the subjective forms of appropriation of alien possessions, robbery and gift-giving—just as presents given to the chief and penalties imposed by the chief represent forestages of taxation. Social regulation appears as the first suprasubjective possibility which is reached in the course of this development, and this in turn prepares the way for objectivity in the factual sense. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 270

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Marcel Mauss’s The Gift on prestation and to historical accounts of taxation’s origin in tribute. — connects to: In-kind taxes explain why conquered Gauls accepted Frankish rule — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 167; Sovereignty power taxes goods while disciplinary power surveils bodies continuously — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 54; Even modest income taxes can grow into transformative fiscal instruments — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3227