A friend, correspondent and intellectual successor to David Ricardo, John Ramsay McCulloch (1789-1864) forged his reputation in the emerging field of political economy by publishing deeply researched articles in Scottish periodicals and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. From 1828 he spent nearly a decade as professor of political economy at the newly founded University of London, thereafter becoming comptroller of the Stationery Office. Perhaps the first professional economist, McCulloch had become internationally renowned by the middle of the century, recognised for sharing his ideas through lucid lecturing and writing. The present work, first published in 1845, has been hailed as 'the first systematic account of the theory and policy of public finance'. After a general introductory chapter, the book discusses direct and indirect taxation, before considering national debt and how to deal with it. Several other works written or edited by McCulloch are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.