Introduction or preface

The publication of Miti e paradossi della giustizia tributaria in 1938 originated an important epistemological debate between Einaudi and Fasiani. In Miti e paradossi, "useful'projects are considered as part of the scientific approach, and science has an interest in good governance and in the ideal economic tax, understood as tax on average or normal income. These Einaudi's propositions deeply troubled Fasiani who still followed Einaudi's original idea that any value judgment, expression of sentiment or precept is out of the economic science. Thus, Fasiani wrote a critical review regarding the epistemological setting of Miti e paradossi, in the form of two long letters addressed to Einaudi. However, Fasiani never sent them, because he had the concern that they could be considered disrespectful. Despite being mentioned in the correspondence Einaudi-Fasiani, such unsent letters had gone lost, but has now been found in the Archives of Turati Foundation, and are published here in Appendix. Keywords: Italian tradition in Public Finance; Mauro Fasiani, Luigi Einaudi, epistemology, economic science