The Promise of Equality

The suffering of the industrial labour force in the 19th century increased the demand for social justice and fanned the fear of a revolution. As a result, Prussia was the first major power in Europe to introduce progressive personal income tax. With it began the revolution of equality and the transition to social-liberal governmentality, which did prove to be successful. With that, the growing injustice after World War I began to decrease for the first time.

In his large-scale study, Marc Buggeln traces the fascinating history of tax policy and shows that progressive taxes have always remained in contestation. With the triumph of neoliberalism, they have once more become the focus of social distribution battles.

»Reading the book to the end ... is worth it. Because Buggeln always embeds German tax policy in an international comparison, there are amazing discoveries to be made.« Florian Meinel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung