MIRABEAU Théorie de l'Impôt S.l.n.e. 1761. In-12, title - viii - 413 pp & 8 blank ff. Brushed brown wallpaper boards, handwritten title page on spine, speckled edges (some wear and rubbing). Second edition of this treatise, published anonymously in 1760, is one of Mirabeau's most important proposals for tax reform in the kingdom, given at a time when he had just immersed himself in physiocratic doctrines. Composed in collaboration with Quesnay, Théorie de l'impôt is divided into nine sections, dealing with contributions, retribution, pecuniary taxes, commerce and industry, internal management, the Nation's revenues, the suppression of excessive taxation and the distribution of tax revenues. In it, Mirabeau defended the principles of absolute freedom of trade, tax consent, the creation of a single tax based on the net product of the soil, i.e. land income; he recommended the abolition of entry duties and general farms as the only way to avoid bankruptcy, which he foresaw as imminent.