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add the expense of collecting the assessed taxes, of maintaining a naval force for the express purpose of preventing smuggling, together with perquisites of office, and frauds in the revenue by evading the duties, the whole sum lost to the country by this mode of collecting the revenue will amount to at least 3,500,000, and in all probability to more than 4,000,000l. per annum.

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If the gross sum taken out of the pockets of the people, by the present mode of collecting the revenue, amounted to 40,000,000/., very little more than 36,000,000l. would go into the public treasury; whereas the same sum, collected by a tax on property, would bring into the public treasury 39,600,000l., or 3,000,0007., at least, more than it does at present. One per cent on 40,000,000l. would amount to 400,000l.; and three hundred collectors distributed over the country would be quite sufficient to collect the income tax. Taking the average, 1000l. a year, for himself and two clerks, to each collector, would be very handsome pay for the work done, and then we should have 100,000l. per annum to pay the expenses of a superior board, supervisors, law proceedings, &c.

In order to lighten the labors of these collectors as much as possible, notice might be given, by public advertisement, that every person liable to this tax is to give information in writing, sealed up, either to the board in London, or to the collector in his district, of the amount of his property, and his place of residence; and any one neglecting to do this, will be made to pay up the whole of his arrears, with interest, for all the time that he evades paying the tax. The collectors, of course, will be empowered to enforce the payment of this tax where occasion is necessary, and to inspect the accounts of individuals whenever they have cause to suspect that these individuals wish to defraud the government of its dues; while their own conduct will be overlooked by travelling supervisors, and their accounts regularly examined by the board in London. As soon as they have furnished themselves with correct lists of the names of those persons in their districts who are liable to the tax, and the amount of their property, one month every quarter will be quite sufficient to collect it; and as their own salaries will be a per centage on the whole amount, they will have a powerful motive to induce them to do all in their power to detect any attempt to evade paying either the whole, or any part of this tax. To prevent any improper collusion on the part of the tax-gatherer, bribes ought not to be permitted either in the shape of presents or perquisites; and every one detected in receiving a bribe for the purpose of conniving at a fraud, should be made responsible for the payment of the deficiency, and rendered incapable of holding any office under government for ever afterwards.

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Unless it should be thought necessary to give large salaries to the relations of men of interest, in order to secure their influence in parliament, one per cent on the gross revenue will be quite sufficient to defray all the expense of collecting it by an income tax; and hence it is evident, that, without increasing the burdens of the people, we might, if we pleased, add at least 3,000,000l. to the sum which is now appropriated for the payment of the national debt.

This is so self-evident a fact, that I am sure it cannot be rationally disputed by any one; and I shall now proceed to show in what way this change in the mode of collecting the revenue would affect the interests of individuals, in the first place; and secondly, in what way the interest of the community at large would be affected by it.

As the principle of this tax is to make every individual contribute to the wants of the state, in proportion to the amount of his property which is protected by the state, if any one should complain that his income would be diminished by such an alteration in the mode of collecting the revenue, the answer to be given to such a man is, that hitherto he has not contributed his fair pròportion to the state; and as no good reason can be given why he should be particularly favored, it is high time that justice should be done to all parties. The only persons that would be called on to contribute more largely to the necessities of the state than they have been accustomed to do, would be those who can best afford it, those who hoard and lay by a great portion of their incomes, and contribute to the state not according to the amount of their property, but according to the amount of their expenditure. The man who lives up to the extent, or nearly up to the extent of his income, could not be made to contribute more than he does at present by the operations of the income tax; but, by the present mode of collecting the revenue, a man of ten thousand a year, if he chooses to live like a miser, is not made to contribute so much as a man of one hundred a year; and consequently the effect of a general income tax would be to make the rich man, who can afford to lay by some of his income, pay more, and the poor man, who has it not in his power to lay by, pay less than he did before.

As far as individuals are concerned, I am only aware of two objections to this tax that deserve a serious reply. It is considered

1 Among other futile objections, I have been told that, as every man is liable to be called on to verify his statement of the amount of his property on oath, it holds out a strong temptation to the commission of perjury; but as every man who is ready to perjure himself whenever his interest requires him to do so, is actually guilty of perjury in the eye of God, this objection is not valid.

inquisitorial and vexatious, in the first place; and, secondly, is sometimes supposed to do harm to trade by exposing the real circumstances of men in business.

1. As must be the case in making laws for the good government of the community, it is necessary to give up, for the general good, a certain portion of individual liberty. We therefore, by our representatives, permit this tax to be imposed, and consent that commissioners, appointed for this purpose, shall be empowered to make inquiries, and ascertain the amount of every man's income, in order that every man may contribute his just proportion to the wants of the state. Pride, which alone is hurt, is here completely satisfied. The act can no longer be offensive, when done by the free consent of the people; or, if it should, is the general good of the community to be dispensed with, because the pride of a few individuals is hurt by having their circumstances inquired into?

2. The second objection, that it is injurious to trade by exposing the real state of the affairs of men in business, is to me incomprehensible. I confess that I am ignorant of mercantile concerns, but I cannot conceive it to be either good policy, or strictly honest, to risk the property of others in speculations for our advantage, without their knowlege; and in this light only can I see the mischief it occasions. A tradesman, for instance, persuades the wholesale dealer to supply him with stock at credit, on the understanding that he has bona-fide property sufficient to cover the debt, which however he does not possess. If he succeed, the gain will be his own, but the risk is his creditors; and has such a man a right to complain of being injured, by having his real circumstances made known?

A man who sets up in business on fictitious property is hardly looked on as an honest man; and the man who conceals his losses, in the hope of recovering them by speculating with the property of others, ought to be placed in the same predicament. The man of real property cannot be injured by an exposure of the real state of his affairs, and the man who trades on fictitious property ought to have his affairs exposed. Be the fact, however, as it may, it does not appear that any improper disclosure was ever made by the commissioners during the whole time the income tax existed, and there can be no reason to suppose that they would be more communicative now than they were formerly. If necessary, they might all be bound on oath to make no disclosures but to the government; and, as an additional security, it should be understood that any tax-gatherer that took advantage of his situation to injure the credit of any one should be dismissed.1

1 Men in business who have real property sufficient to cover all their debts, are now frequently obliged to sell their goods off at a great loss to answer the urgent demands of their creditors, whenever they happen to be

In what way the community at large would be affected by this mode of collecting the revenue is the next point to be considered; and here again I shall divide my subject into two branches. Į shall first of all take into consideration what would be the consequence to the community of taking off the whole of the excise and assessed taxes, and raising a sum equal to the gross amount by an income tax; and, secondly, in what way the community. would be affected if we were to take off the customs and all other taxes, and raise the whole sum that is wanted for the use of the state by a single tax on income.

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The net produce of the excise for the year just passed amounts to 17,000,000l., and the expense of collecting it at five and a half per cent is nearly 1,000,000l., while double that sum might be raised by an income tax, at an expense of only 400,000ľ.'

By substituting an income tax for the excise and assessed taxes,' we should have an increase of very near 600,000l. per annum, without adding any thing to the burdens of the people; and to this sum may fairly be added 400,000l. for what is now lost to the revenue by smuggling, perquisites, and other modes of evading the duties. Here, then, would be a gain to the community of at least 1,000,000l. per annum, by a change in the mode of collecting the revenue, without the least inconvenience attending it. Twenty per cent (in half-yearly or quarterly payments) would probably be taken out of the pockets of the subject by this tax, but taking one article with another, every thing he purchased would be so much cheaper; so that the individual would be no loser, while the whole community would be gainers.

By taking off the excise and assessed taxes, the fair price of labor would be considerably diminished; because, in the same proportion that the prices of the necessaries of life are diminished, the laborer can afford to take less wages. The manufacturer, by this means, would be enabled to sell cheaper, not only in the home market, but abroad; and as this, in all probability, would occasion

apprehensive that they are likely to become insolvent; and which would not be the case if their creditors. had any authentic means of ascertaining the real state of their affairs. For every individual who would be inconvenienced (for he could not possibly be injured) by having his circumstances made known, hundreds would be saved from absolute ruin by having the means of ascertaining the real circumstances of the persons with whom they were about to intrust their property. I can imagine many instances in which the community at large would be benefited by the public disclosure of every body's circumstances, but not a single case by which any could be injured, with the exception of those who maintain that they have a right to risk the property of others for their own private advantage, without their knowlege or consent.

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As the trouble of raising a revenue by a tax on income would be nearly the same, whatever might be the amount, the per centage on the gross sum. should decrease in the same proportion as that sum increased.

a larger demand for his goods in the foreign market, his means of contributing to the wants of the state would be so much increased. What I am now going to enter on embraces such a variety of topics, and such a number of contending interests are to be con sidered, that I am afraid I shall not be able to preserve that clearness and method which will be necessary to make myself perfectly understood, without incurring the risk of being tedious. To prevent confusion, I shall first of all examine the results that would accrue to the agricultural interests by the free importation of corn, which would be the natural consequence of taking off the customs; and then consider what effect the taking off these duties would have on our own manufactures.

As a considerable reduction would necessarily take place in the price of corn, the landowners would consult their own interests by lowering their rents sufficiently to allow the farmers a reasonable return for their labor and expense; for, if they did not do this, their farms would be thrown on their hands, and they would get no rent at all. In this case, the farmer would stand precisely in the same situation as he did before, the great body of the people would be materially benefited, and the landlords themselves would have no just reason to complain. Their incomes would nominally be less, but the price of labor and all other marketable commodities would be much cheaper, and if they should not be able to purchase quite so much with their reduced rents as they have been accustomed to do, they would only be reduced to a fair level with their fellow-subjects. Laws are, or at least ought to be, intended for the benefit of the whole community, and not to exalt a particular class at the expense of their fellow-subjects, who are all entitled to enjoy equal privileges; but to prohibit the free importation of foreign corn, is to levy an unjust tax (of probably very little less than five per cent on their intire incomes,) on the great body of the people, not for their own advantage, not to go into the public treasury of the state, but for the sole purpose enabling the landowners to live in greater splendor than they are justly entitled to: for no law, that is founded in justice, can authorise the state to force one part of the community to contribute to the private advantage of another.

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What was the value of land before manufactures on a large scale were introduced into this country? and what would the value of land be now, if our manufactures were to take flight to some more favored soil? And yet the effect of this prohibition is to injure

+ If the importer of foreign corn can afford to pay a duty on importation of 20s. per quarter, when the price of home-growed corn is not more than 658. the quarter, the consumer is taxed more than thirty per cent on bread corn, for the sole purpose of contributing to the private advantage of the landowner.

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