Wars forced Britain’s tax base and government size to permanently expand.

Evidence

A fiscal base so heavily skewed to taxation on such basic items of mass consumption proved unwieldy in wartime; British war finance therefore had once more to borrow heavily in international markets, with repayment requiring a restructuring toward direct taxation together with a significant increase in the overall tax burden. The fiscal profile of government once again doubled from 1914 to 1920 because of the costs of war. Defense had taken 44 percent of total expenditure in 1913–1914, debt services 14 percent, and social services (education, health, labor, insurance, and pensions) 19 percent. By 1925–1926 these figures had altered to defense 16 percent, debt servicing 46 percent, and social services 24 percent. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 389

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the argument that war made the modern state in Charles Tilly; connects to WWI’s role in taxing the poor just before the Mont Pèlerin thinkers react. — connects to: Absolute monarchies created permanent state finance through war and tax monopoly. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 94; War is the continuation of policy that demands permanent political organization.; British warfare built state capacity and de-democratized Britain before 1815. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 665
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 389

Broader Connections

• Absolute monarchies created permanent state finance through war and tax monopoly. #expands (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 94
• War is the continuation of policy that demands permanent political organization. #complicates (0.70)