Taxes on Knowledge in America

Exactions on the Press from Colonial Times to the Present

Randall P. Bezanson

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780812232127, 9780812232127
• eBook ISBN: 9781512802795
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic History
• Index: Economics

In Taxes on Knowledge in America, Randall P. Bezanson explores the extent to which the publication and distribution of current public information is effected by economic exactions. The book begins with a brief overview of the English history and experience with knowledge taxes, before turning to a discussion of knowledge taxes in America from colonial times to the present. In addition to covering traditional printed publications, Bezanson looks at recent developments in broadcast and cable telecommunications, devotes a chapter to the history of the postal system, and gleans insight from three benchmark Supreme Court decisions. Bezanson provocatively concludes that knowledge is common property and knowledge taxes should be measured by their impact on the diversity of ideas and availability of information throughout society.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Knowledge Taxes in England
• 2. Knowledge Taxes from the Colonial Period Through Ratification of the First Amendment
• 3. Federal Knowledge Taxes in Nineteenth-Century America
• 4. State and Municipal Knowledge Taxes in Nineteenth-Century America
• 5. Knowledge Taxes in Nineteenth-Century America: Observations at the End of the Print Era
• 6. Knowledge Taxes in Twentieth-Century America
• 7. Beyond the Traditional Setting: Knowledge Taxation in New Environments
• 8. The Postal System
• 9. Developing Doctrine in the Supreme Court: Some Lessons from History
• 10. The Perspectives of History
• Selected Bibliography
• Table of Cases
• Index