Happy spring! We now turn to the next-to-last chapter of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations: Book V, Chapter 2, which is available here. This chapter has two parts. Part One, consisting of 21 paragraphs, surveys “the Funds or Sources of Revenue which may peculiarly belong to the Sovereign or Commonwealth” (WN, V.ii.a). Part Two, by contrast, is much more lengthy and detailed than Part One. It contains a combined 204 paragraphs, spans 139 pages of the Glasgow edition of Smith’s magnum opus, and is further divided into six subsections as follows:

1. A general introduction (“Of Taxes”, WN, V.ii.b.1-7);
2. Article I: “Taxes upon Rent; Taxed upon the Rent of Land” (WN, V.ii.c.1-27), “Taxes which are proportioned, not to the Rent, but to the produce of Land” (WN, V.ii.d.1-9), and “Taxes upon the Rent of Houses” (WN, V.ii.e.1-20);
3. Article II: “Taxes upon the Profit, or upon the Revenue arising from Stock” (WN, V.ii.f.1-14) and “Taxes upon the Profit of particular Employments” (WN, V.ii.g.1-13);
4. Appendix to Articles I and II: “Taxes upon the Capital Value of Land, Houses, and Stock” (WN, V.ii.h.1-18)
5. Article III: “Taxes upon the Wages of Labour” (WN, V.ii.i.1-7);
6. Article IV: “Capitation Taxes” (WN, V.ii.j.1-9) and “Taxes upon consumable Commodities” (WN, V.ii.k.1-80).

Nota bene: We will jump into Part One of Chapter 2 of Book V starting on Monday, 23 March.