John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand

Richard Reeves writes an excellent article in the Guardian about John Stuart Mills, entitled "Cry, freedom". It's to accompany Reeves' new book "John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand".

With the recent debate about inheritance tax, I was particularly interested to be reminded of JS Mill's pronouncements on tax:

On tax, Mill made a sharp distinction between earned wealth, acquired through individual effort and initiative, and unearned riches, acquired through inheritance. He advocated a single rate of income tax - an idea in vogue among some right-wingers today - but also argued for supertax on inheritance to prevent the passing down between generations of "enormous fortunes which no one needs for any personal purpose but ostentation or improper power".