THE ROLE OF INCOME TAX IN THE GENESIS OF THE TAX PROFESSION

This paper has two main aims: first, to show how and why, from a functionalist perspective, income tax, especially after 1842, contributed to the development of the accounting profession; and, second, to show how, by this, the seeds of a specialist tax profession were sown. It examines the nature of the legal and commercial difficulties associated with income tax as revealed by the academic literature, then goes on to use newspaper and other press reports and articles to show how accountants were involved in helping to resolve such difficulties on a day-to-day basis. It does this for a key period of development for both income tax and the accounting profession: between 1798 and 1900. The examination of press materials reveals that accountants' involvement in income tax not only helped towards the development of the profession, but, arguably, drove the development of accounting principles and sowed the seeds for a more specialist tax profession to emerge.