The field of public finance, especially with regard to issues of taxation, was covered at Harvard in the early decades of the 20th century by Professor Charles Jesse Bullock.
From 1906: Selected Readings in Public Finance edited by Charles Jesse Bullock (Boston: Inn & Company).
From 1910: Short bibliography on public finance “for serious minded students” by Bullock
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Earlier versions of the course
by year and instructor
1906-07
1907-08
https://www.irwincollier.com/harvard-public-finance-and-taxation-exams-bullock-1907-1908/
1908-09
1909-10 (half-course, American Taxation)
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Course Announcement and Description
1910-11
[Economics] 16 Public Finance (advanced course). Mon., Wed., Fri., at 9. Professor Bullock.
This course is designed for graduate students and for undergraduates who are especially interested in public finance. It cannot be elected by students who have taken Economics 7 [Public Finance course exclusively offered to undergraduates], except by express consent of the instructor.
The course is devoted to the examination of the financial institutions of the principal modern countries, in the light of both theory and history. One or more reports calling for independent investigation will ordinarily be required. Special emphasis will be placed upon questions of American finance.
Source: History and Political Science, Comprising the Departments of History and Government, and Economics, 1910-11. Published in the Official Register of Harvard University. Vol. VII No. 23 (June 21, 1910), pp. 60.
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Course Enrollment
1910-11
Economics 16. Professor Bullock. — Public Finance (advanced course).
Total 7: 5 Graduates, 1 Senior, 1 Junior.
Source: Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College, 1910-1911, p. 49.
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ECONOMICS 16
Mid-year Examination, 1910-11
- Discuss briefly the classifications of public revenues offered by Smith, Cohn, Bastable, and Seligman.
- Discuss the course of development of three classes of public expenditures in the nineteenth century.
- Analyze the effects of non-commercial expenditures, with a view to supplying the data necessary for judging of the legitimacy of such expenditures.
- What policy should a modern state pursue with respect to public ownership of arable land, forests, and mines?
- What fiscal policy would you favor for the following public industries: the post office, railroads, water works, gas works?
- What has been the position of commercial revenues in national and local budgets since 1850?
- In what departments of public service and to what extent should fees be used by a modern state?
- Discuss the relation of taxation to benefits.
Source: Harvard University Archives. Harvard University, Mid-year Examinations, 1852-1943. Box 8, Bound vol. Examination Papers, Mid-Years, 1910-11.
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ECONOMICS 16
Year-End Examination, 1910-11
- Discuss double taxation in the United States.
- Discus the taxation of incomes in Switzerland and the United States.
- Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in Europe.
- Discuss the past and present status of the property tax in the United States.
- Discuss briefly the history of excise taxation in Europe during the nineteenth century.
- Discuss the present custom revenues of Great Britain, France, and Germany.
- Discuss the incidence of taxes on mortgages in the American states.
- Discuss state supervision of the assessment of property in the American states.
Source: Papers set for Final Examinations in History, Government, Economics, …, Landscape Architecture, Music in Harvard College. June 1911, p. 52. In Harvard University Archives, Examination papers, 1873-1915 (HUC 7000.25). Box 9. Examination Papers, 1910-11, p. 52.
Image Source: No Income Tax! by Charles Jay Taylor illustrator on the cover of Puck (24 January 1894). “Print shows a scene at the ‘Income Tax Office’ with a crowd clamoring at the door where a notice states ‘One at a Time’; inside, a wealthy man is standing by a desk, on the floor at his feet, in his hat, are papers labeled ‘Personal Property Tax Sworn Off’, ‘Tax on Capital Sworn Off’, and ‘Tax on Investments’, he kisses the Bible while a government official sits at the desk with his right hand raised.” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.