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SUMMARY:The fiscal history of the British Cape Colony in comparative persp
 ectives: Rethinking the South African exceptionalism\, 1814-1910 - Abel Gw
 aindepi (Lund University)
DTSTART:20200225T170000Z
DTEND:20200225T190000Z
UID:TALK137470@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Gareth Austin
DESCRIPTION:The Cape Colony was the most advanced colonial state in Southe
 rn Africa in the 19th century. It attained a non-racial franchise in 1853\
 , and its fiscal institutions were good by African standards. Yet there is
  a puzzle that has not been fully explored. By 1909\, the Cape had accumul
 ated high debt levels\, and it was experiencing huge budget deficits. What
  had gone wrong fiscally for a setter colony with\, supposedly\, ‘good i
 nstitutions’? This paper examines the interface between colonial fiscal 
 institutions and commercial interests at the Cape\, in comparative perspec
 tive. Using public revenue\, expenditure and debt statistics as well as ot
 her qualitative evidence from budget speeches\, parliamentary Acts and col
 onial records\, the paper investigates how the Cape’s fiscal institution
 s evolved leading to the financial challenges experienced just before unif
 ication in 1910. The study’s preliminary finding is that after the disco
 very of diamonds\, the growing economy availed more ‘tax handles’ whic
 h were not exploited. This had negative ramifications on fiscal capacity b
 uilding in the long run. The tax structure of the colony did not develop a
 s elites in the mining sector resisted paying taxes or royalties to the st
 ate. Public expenditure priorities were distorted towards private interest
 s\, in the same mining sector. Rather than being the main source of govern
 ment revenues and a basis for nation-level development\, diamonds became a
  trap. The comparative angle of the study is being developed and will be i
 ncorporated fully. The purpose is to go beyond the Cape/Africa-specific ar
 guments and trace how fiscal systems developed in other British colonies o
 f comparable state-level institutions.
LOCATION:King's College\, Audit Room
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