Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman (1861–1939), was an American economist who spent his entire academic career at Columbia University in New York City.

His principles for a progressive federal income tax were adopted by Congress after the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment.

[1] A prolific scholar and teacher, his students had great influence on the fiscal architecture of postcolonial nations.

[3] Seligman's academic work dealt largely with matters of taxation and public finance, and he was regarded as a leading proponent of the progressive income tax.

[3] Seligman dedicated a great deal of effort to the question of public finance during World War I and was a prominent advocate of the establishment of a progressive income tax as a basis for the funding of government operations.

Although a proponent of the economic interpretation of history, commonly associated with Marxism, Seligman was an opponent of socialism and appeared in public debates opposing prominent radical figures during the early 1920s, including such figures as Scott Nearing and Harry Waton.

[11] As a mentor to fiscal experts including Carl Shoup, Seligman's ideas also guided post-World War II tax reform.