TY - BOOK AU - Jensen,Jeffrey L. AU - Pardelli,Giuliana AU - Timmons,Jeffrey F. TI - Representation and taxation in the American South, 1820-1910 T2 - Cambridge elements. Elements in political economy, SN - 9781009122825 (ebook) AV - HJ4121.S65 J46 2023 U1 - 336.220975 23 PY - 2023/// CY - Cambridge PB - Cambridge University Press KW - Property tax KW - Southern States KW - History KW - 19th century KW - Elite (Social sciences) Southern States History N1 - Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 25 Dec 2023); Open Access N2 - We explain and document state-level fiscal developments in American Southern states from 1820-1910, focusing on their main source of revenue, progressive property taxes borne primarily by economic elites. The fourteen states in our analysis were characterized by severe economic exploitation of the enslaved and later politically repressed African-descended population by a small rural elite, who dominated the region both politically and economically. While rural elites are thought to be especially resistant to taxation, we offer a set of conditions that explains the emergence of progressive taxation and provides a coherent account of the fiscal development of these states over this period. Using an original, archival data set of annual tax revenues and select expenditure items, we show that the economic interests of these rural elites and the extent of their formal (over)representation played a critical role in shaping the observed fiscal patterns within and across these states over this period. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core UR - https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009122825 ER -