Equity Issues in the Italian Public Finance Tradition

This paper aims to address the main equity issues debated in the Italian public finance literature between the end of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century, pointing out the positions taken by the most representative authors. In evaluating the basic attitude of the Italian public finance scientists toward these issues one could say that they mostly did not find enough ‘scientific’ justifications to accept redistribution as a permanent feature of the tax system, except for the case of the minimum of subsistence exemption. In general, however, they did not object to redistribution as a free, democratic choice of voters. The main equity issues covered in this paper are: i) the definition of equity in taxation and the index of equality; ii) the income base: the issue of progressive taxation from a theoretical viewpoint; iii) the income base: the issue of progressive taxation from a political viewpoint; iv) the minimum of subsistence exemption; v) the consumption base and the double taxation of savings; vi) the tax treatment of unjust enrichment.