This is a weighty book by any standard, at nearly a thousand pages and nearly two kilograms. However, the scope of Taxation in Colonial America is not so much defined by its physical dimensions as its ambitious agenda. Alvin Rabushka, David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, sets out to provide nothing less than a complete history of taxation in colonial British North America: all taxes in all the British colonies that became the United States throughout the entire colonial era from the early seventeenth century to 1775. While the author cautions that “no single book can cover the entire colonial experience” (p. 18), in its chosen field, Taxation in Colonial America comes as close as reasonably possible.

Few people will read this book from cover to cover. Its structure lends itself to be used as a kind of reference work. The main parts are organized chronologically: the book begins with the background of colonization in North America, followed by the period from the founding of Jamestown to the Glorious Revolution in Britain (1607-1688). It continues with the time from King William’s War to the end of Queen Anne’s War (1688-1714), then the era of salutary neglect (1714-1739), King George’s War to the end of the French and Indian War (1739-1763), and finally the years leading up to the American Revolution (1763-1775). Each part is then divided into regional chapters, covering the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies, and the chapters are subdivided into sections on the specific colonies themselves. The main parts also provide information on constitutional government in Britain, imperial governance, and the commercial policies of the mother country. As a result, it is a simple matter to skip right ahead to the taxation system of Pennsylvania during the mid-eighteenth century, for example, and this is presumably how most readers will use the book.

Rabushka takes care to explain just what it is that he examines. The introduction points out the many and often confusing forms money could take in the colonial era, including foreign coinage, local coinage, various forms of paper money, and even commodities like tobacco or rum. As a result, each chapter provides an analysis of what forms of money were used for taxation and how its value relates to sterling. Also, taxation can take many forms, which the author carefully differentiates and correlates to one another.

In terms of sources, Rabushka draws on both primary and secondary material, including of course all relevant public records from both the American and the British sides. Where his figures deviate from those given by other authors, the author explains how he arrived at his numbers. It is difficult to imagine a more comprehensive survey of the available records, and here lies the great strength and achievement of Taxation in Colonial America. Rabushka has essentially compiled all relevant tax data of colonial America and put them at the fingertips of historians and economists alike, complete with annotations and comparison of tax burdens. The author also links taxation to both colonial and imperial policy, as well as events that gave rise to higher tax burdens, notably war.

Taxation in Colonial America is primarily empirical, not interpretative in nature. It does not delve deeply into the question of what the taxes levied were used for, with the obvious exception of war expenditures. Rabushka notes that tax burdens were almost universally light in colonial America, leading to often unprecedented economic opportunity and growth. However, while Rabushka maintains that the American Revolution was “a tax revolt, first and foremost,” (p. 868) he makes no judgment call as to whether it was justified. Nor does he really explain why Americans revolted against such a light tax burden, other than stating it was “not minuscule in the light of provincial taxes paid in peacetime in the colonies” (p. 866). Rabushka also refrains from drawing any political comparisons to the present day; his objectivity is remarkable given his background as an outspoken advocate of a flat tax for contemporary America.

It would be unreasonable to see this relative dearth of interpretation as a flaw. After all, Taxation in Colonial America is a massive achievement in its empirical scope and will provide historians with an excellent platform from which to start their analysis of the political economy of colonial North America. Rabushka never set out to have the last word on colonial history, fiscal or otherwise. Instead, his book provides a hugely comprehensive and useful platform for discussion.