"A gripping account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British...

Economists and market-conforming reform -- The new economics and politics of taxation -- New Zealand : plotting a market-oriented revolution -- Ireland : populist politics in a generalist system -- Norway : economic experts in the social-democratic state -- Denmark : equality before efficiency,...