The Dutch East India Company's Tax Farming in 18th Century Malacca

eJournal of Tax Research (2014) vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 253 - 281

29 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2014

See all articles by Diane Kraal

Diane Kraal

Monash University - Monash Business School

Jeyapalan Kasipillai

Monash University - Sunway Campus

Date Written: June 1, 2014

Abstract

This study concerns eighteenth century Dutch East India Company (VOC) tax farming practices in the Southeast Asian port town of Malacca. Empirical data from VOC archives are used to determine the value of VOC’s tax farming. Adopting a qualitative methodology, and drawing on perspectives from Adam Smith’s tax maxims, the study focuses on determining the impact of the VOC’s tax farming practices on Malacca’s taxpayers, whether they were inter-continental or local intra-island traders, townspeople, or Malay farmers. The study facilitates a further understanding of the global phenomenon of tax farming practice and its demise. Findings suggest that the impact of the VOC’s Malacca tax farming varied across groups of taxpayers, but more negatively affected minority and local Malay groups, demonstrating why Adam Smith’s governance maxims still guide government tax policy in many countries today. The study complements the paper published from the 2012 Tax History Conference in Cambridge, which covered the nineteenth century handover of Malacca by the Dutch to the British.

Keywords: tax history, tax farming, colonial tax

Suggested Citation

Kraal, Diane and Kasipillai, Jeyapalan, The Dutch East India Company's Tax Farming in 18th Century Malacca (June 1, 2014). eJournal of Tax Research (2014) vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 253 - 281, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2448608 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2448608

Diane Kraal (Contact Author)

Monash University - Monash Business School ( email )

26 Sir Monash Drive
Caulfield East
Melbourne, 3145
Australia
03 9903 2144 (Phone)

Jeyapalan Kasipillai

Monash University - Sunway Campus ( email )

Jalan Lagoon Selatan
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Bandar Sunway, 46150
Malaysia

HOME PAGE: http://www.monash.edu.my/

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