Progressive Taxation and Welfare Proposals

From Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
Part Second concludes with a remarkable practical program: progressive taxation on landed estates, family allowances, public education for the poor, old-age pensions, maternity benefits, and funeral expenses—an early blueprint for the welfare state.
Part Second, Chapter V 'Ways and Means of Improving the Condition of Europe'

Detailed proposals for child allowances, pensions for the elderly at fifty and sixty, and funded education. Considered a foundational text of social democracy.

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Part Second, Chapter V

Progressive estate tax designed to break up aristocratic concentrations of land — explicit redistributive purpose.

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