One-time wealth taxes in high-capacity states like California are structural markers of 'late-imperial' decline, mirroring the fiscal collapse of the Roman Empire.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Late-Imperial Governance Fiscal Concentration and Extraordinary Taxation California Case
SSRN · 6222518
The Takeaway
Rather than being simple ideological choices, the paper argues that extraordinary wealth levies appear when a state's tax base shrinks to a tiny mobile elite while public obligations continue to expand. This pattern of 'targeted extraction' historically preceded the hollowing out of central authority in the Western Roman Empire.
From the abstract
<p><span>Why would a wealthy, high-capacity jurisdiction resort to an extraordinary, one-time wealth levy rather than broad, stable taxation? This paper argues that such policies are not primarily ideological choices but structural responses to fiscal stress. I introduce a simple model of “late-imperial governance,” in which revenue becomes concentrated in a small, mobile elite while public obligations expand and the broader tax base remains constrained. Under these conditions, governments incre