Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) capital levy, form of taxation by which the government takes part of the capital of any person or business, as distinguished from a tax on personal or business income. It is usually applied to all cap...

(Encyclopedia) taxation, system used by governments to obtain money from people and organizations. The revenue collected is used by the government to support itself and to provide public services. Aside from being r...

(Encyclopedia) Desmarets, Nicolas nēkôläˈ dāmärāˈ [key], 1648–1721, French statesman; the nephew of Jean Baptiste Colbert. He became director of finances in 1703 and succeeded Michel Chamillart as controll...

(Encyclopedia) depreciation, in accounting, reduction in the value of fixed or capital assets, as by use, damage, weathering, or obsolescence. It can be estimated according to a number of methods. In the straight-li...

(Encyclopedia) Saint-Pierre, Charles Irénée Castel, Abbé de shärl ērānāˈ kästĕlˈ äbāˈ də săN-pyĕrˈ [key], 1658–1743, French social philosopher. An advocate of natural religion and toleration, he ...

(Encyclopedia) Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de pyĕr lə pəzäNˈ syör də bwägēlbĕrˈ [key], 1646–1714, French economist. A local official of Rouen after 1689, he proposed a radical alteration of th...

(Encyclopedia) Rivera, Julio Adalberto rēvāˈrä [key], 1921–73, president of El Salvador (1962–67). An army lieutenant colonel, he headed the junta that overthrew the leftist government in Jan., 1961. His ju...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Stockwell, 1950–, Canadian political leader, b. Barrie, Ontario. He grew up in Montreal, attended (1970–71) the Univ. of Victoria, and held such jobs as auctioneer, deckhand, lumberjack, cont...

(Encyclopedia) Mellon, Andrew William, 1855–1937, American financier, industrialist, and public official, b. Pittsburgh. He studied at the Western Univ. of Pennsylvania (now the Univ. of Pittsburgh), but he left c...

(Encyclopedia) Nelson, Knute kəno͞otˈ [key], 1843–1923, U.S. Senator (1895–1923), b. Voss, Norway. He was brought to the United States at the age of six, grew up on a Wisconsin farm, and served in the Union a...