ACTA VŠFS, 2/2019, vol. 13, www.vsfs.cz/acta 186 On the Origin of the Laffer Curve O původu Lafferovy křivky PETR MACH Abstract In 1974 Arthur Laffer sketched his famous curve on a restaurant napkin. Jude Wanniski gave the curve Laffer’s name and popularized it in 1978. Nowadays the Laffer curve is part of most economics textbooks and essential argument in tax debates. In this paper we present less known citations on the relation between the tax rate and the tax revenue of Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes, and Adam Smith who uttered the idea lying behind the Laffer curve long time before Arthur Laffer. Keywords Lafer curve, taxation, history of economic thought JEL Codes B0, H20 Abstrakt V roce 1974 načrtl Arthur Lafer svou slavnou křivku na ubrousku restaurace. Jude Wanniski jí dal jméno Laferova křivka a popularizoval ji v roce 1978. V současnosti je Laferova křivka součástí většiny ekonomických učebnic a základním argumentem v daňových debatách. V článku uvádíme méně známé citace Miltona Friedmana, Johna Maynarda Keynese a Adama Smithe o vztahu mezi daňovou sazbou a daňovými příjmy, které obsahují myšlenku Laferovy křivky dlouho před Arthurem Laferem. Klíčová slova Laferova křivka, zdanění, historie ekonomického myšlení Professor Arthur Lafer is a living legend. He gave name to one of the best-known curves in economics, and had done so not by writing a scientifc article but by sketching a simple graph on a napkin at a restaurant dinner. The curve shows a concave relation between the tax rate and the tax revenues, which is now present in most economics textbooks. In this article we present the historical background of the genesis of the Lafer Curve and we remind thoughts of great economists – Milton Friedman, John Maynadrd Keynes, and Adam Smith – who uttered the very idea lying behind the Lafer curve long time before Arthur Lafer.