Frank W. Taussig took over this taxation course from Charles E. Dunbar in 1896/97. The course was a graduate course that juniors and seniors were permitted to attend. About a decade later the topic was absorbed into Charles Bullock’s teaching portfolio. The reading list is for the academic year 1897-98. It is not altogether obvious what Taussig intended with the pairings of readings within curly brackets. I presume he meant that students were allowed to choose from the two items.
After posting this material, I have added a transcription of the final examination for this course.
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[Course Announcement]
*71 hf. The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to Local Taxation in the United States. Half-course (first half-year.) Tu., Th., and (at the pleasure of the instructor) Sat., at 1.30. Professor Taussig.
Source: Harvard University, Announcement of the Courses of Instruction provided by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for the Academic Year 1897-98 (second edition, 1897), p. 39.
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[Course Enrollment]
[Economics ] 71. Professor Taussig.—The Theory and Methods of Taxation, with special reference to Local Taxation in the United States. 2 or 3 hours. 1st half year.
Total 42: 5 Graduates, 27 Seniors, 9 Juniors, 1 Sophomore.
Source: Annual Reports of the President and the Treasurer of Harvard College 1897-98, (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1899), p. 78.
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ECONOMICS 71.
Seligman, [Edwin R. A.] — Essays in Taxation.
[1st edition, 1895; 2nd edition, 1897; 3rd edition, 1900; 4th edition, 1903; 5th edition, 1905; 6th edition, 1909; 7th edition, 1911; 8th edition, 1913; 9th edition, 1921; 10th edition, 1925]
Bastable, [C.F.] — Public Finance.
[1st edition, 1892; 2nd edition, 1895; 3rd edition, 1903]
Leroy-Beaulieu, [Paul] —Science des Finances, Vol. I [Des Revenus Publics]
[3rd edition (1883); 5th edition (1892); 6th edition (1899)]
Say, [Léon] — Dictionnaire des Finances. [1889]
[Tome I: A — D (1889); Tome II: E — Z (1894)]
Quarterly Journal of Economics, cited as Q. J. E.
Dowell, [Stephen] — History of Taxation and Taxes in England [1884].
Vol. I (Taxation, From the Earliest Times to the Civil War); Vol. II (Taxation, From the Civil War to the Present Day); Vol. III (Direct Taxes and Stamp Duties); Vol. IV (Taxes on Articles of Consumption)]
[Palgrave, R. H. Inglis (editor). Dictionary of Political Economy (1899).
Vol. I, A — E; Vol. II, F — M; Vol. III, N — Z]
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS: CLASSIFICATION.
Seligman, Ch. IX.
Bastable, Bk. II, Ch. I; Bk. III, Ch. 1
TAXES ON LAND.
{Leroy-Beaulieu. Bk. II, Ch. VI;
Say, article “Foncière (Contribution).” 233-241.}
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. I.
Dictionary of Political Economy, article “Land Tax.”
HABITATION TAXES.
{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VII.
Say, article “Personelle-Mobilière,” 850-857.}
Dowell, Vol. III, 186-192.
INCOME TAXES.
Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. X.
Bastable, Bk. IV, Ch. IV.
{Dowell, Vol. III, 99-122;
Article “Income Tax in the United Kingdom,” in Dictionary of Political Economy, Vol. II.}
J. A. Hill, The Prussian Income Tax, Q. J. E., January, 1892.
Seligman, Ch. X, iii, iv.
BUSINESS TAXES.
{Say, article “Patentes,” pp. 743-752;
Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. VIII.}
J. A. Hill—The Prussian Business Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1893.
SUCCESSION TAXES.
Seligman, Ch. V; Ch. IX, i.
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.
PROGRESSION.
{Leroy-Beaulieu, Bk. II, Ch. II;
Bastable, Bk. III, Ch. III.}
Seligman, Progressive Taxation [1894], pp. 190-200; pp. 39-53 (Switzerland). [2nd edition, 1908]]
DIRECT TAXES BY THE UNITED STATES.
C. F. Dunbar, The Direct Tax of 1861, Q. J. E., July, 1889; Vol. III, pp. 436-446.
J. A. Hill, The Civil War Income Tax, Q. J. E., July, 1894.
C. F. Dunbar, The New Income Tax, Q. J. E., October, 1894.
LOCAL TAXES IN ENGLAND.
Blunden, Local Taxation and Finance, Ch. III, IV, V.
LOCAL TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Seligman, Ch. II, IV, VI, XI.
Ely, Taxation in American States, part III, Ch. VII.
Plehn, The General Property Tax in California, (Economic Studies, Vol. II, No. 3), Part II, 151-178.
Angell, The Tax Inquisitor System in Ohio, in Yale Review, February, 1897.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, folder “1897-1898”.
Image Source: Harvard College Album, 1900.
Image Source: Frank W. Taussig (Original black and white image from of Frank William Taussig from a cabinet card photograph, 1895, at the Harvard University Archives HUP.