Treasury economists framed taxation as forced abstention on the working class

Evidence

“Taxation,” Hawtrey wrote, “by reducing people’s resources, gives them an inducement to reduce their consumption of commodities” (Hawtrey 1919a, 351). In a moment in which overextending taxation to the working classes faced peak opposition, Hawtrey praised taxation’s ability to force abstention on the people. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 912

Categorization

• XREF: Hawtrey’s logic is the direct intellectual ancestor of modern consumption-tax advocacy and the idea that fiscal policy should discipline workers rather than fund services. — connects to: Regressive taxation and spending cuts serve the same class-confiscating function — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 150; Budget cuts under Hawtrey’s logic functioned to reduce working-class disposable income — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 756; Mainstream framing of class as income and status obscures the working class’s existence — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 84 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Mainstream framing of class as income and status obscures the working class’s existence #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 84
• Economists depoliticized austerity by presenting class-based coercion as neutral expertise. #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1569