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David Buchanan, 1779-1848
Scottish political and economic journalist, Whig activist and editor of the Caledonian Mercury from 1817 to 1827 and the Edinburgh Evening Courant from 1827 until his death.
Originally from Montrose, Scotland, the son of a printer and classical scholar, and older brother of the engineer George Buchanan. David Buchanan was an early enthusiast of Adam Smith and Classical economics (although critical of certain Ricardian additions, e.g. on rent). Buchanan helped propagate its doctrines. Buchanan was the editor of a celebrated 1814 edition of Smith's Wealth of Nations, to which he appended a volume of his own notes on the treatise. His later 1844 treatise was a solid defense of laissez faire and free trade policy.
Buchanan was also an early proponent of progressive taxation, having been among the first to challenge the Smith's old proposition that taxes on wages would be fully passed on in the form of higher wages. Buchanan pointed out that taxes would lead to real cutbacks in worker consumption and standards of living. (e.g. 1817: p.211) His 1844 treatise argued vigorously against the introduction of income taxes primarily for this reason, as well as complaining that 'inquisitions' into incomes were an intrusion on personal liberty.
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