‎SAY, L.‎
‎Les solutions démocratiques de la question des impôts. Conférences faites à l'École des Sciences Politiques.‎

‎Paris, Guillaumin et Cie., 1886. 2 volumes. (4), 260 pp.; (4), 299, (1) pp. 8vo. Modern half vellum, spines richly gilt with leather labels with gilt lettering, marbled sides. Not in Einaudi; not in Mattioli. First edition. Léon Jean Baptiste Say (1826-1896) was a French statesman, financier, and economist. He was the son of Horace Emile Say, grandson of Jean-Baptiste Say, and nephew of Louis-Auguste Say and Charles Comte. He became one of the most prominent statesman of the French Third Republic, serving as Finance Minister from 1872 to 1879 and again in 1882, overseeing the largest financial operation of the century - payment of war reparations to Germany. His financial policies were directed towards a decrease in public expenditures and the removal of barriers to internal trade. He railed against socialism from the left and protectionism from the right. The above work was directed against the idea of using taxation as a means of social equalization. He argued, instead, that the basis of taxation should always be real (based on property), never personal. A curious parallel exists in the careers of Say and Turgot, whose name Say declared he could not even pronounce without emotion. They shared a body of ideas and a similar destiny. Both achieved eminence as finance ministers in the French government, only to be turned out upon losing public favour. Say, however, helped to immortalize his predecessor by writing one of the earliest biographies of Turgot (New Palgrave, iv, p. 251). - Some light occasional spotting. Copy inscribed by the author on the half-title of volume 1: "de la part de l'auteur." ‎

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