Essay #36, Concerning the General Power of Taxation, brings to a close Hamilton’s focus on the need for the central government to have the power of taxation. He addresses the following lingering issues: The claim that the national legislature will not have sufficient knowledge of local circumstances to impose taxes on the people directly; Concerns […]

In Essay #34, Concerning the General Power of Taxation, Alexander Hamilton hammers home the concept of concurrent powers – that the national government must have at least equal or greater powers than the individual states – particularly as they relate to taxation. He argues that the national government’s power to tax must not be limited, […]