The National Register. — London, England, 1815-02-26 00:00:00

132 THE tnent, bodieA were one and the same branch of the_ K+~• ~ it was not between them that aiiy contract was bindine, whatever was done by the representative, must be Poppoxed to be equally done by the constititelit. Tire public never could have cell to-acted that Parliament should enact such laws as were suited to the ripen:curies of the country, nor court any faith be broken by the renewal of the Property 'lax, if it should appear to be the only ad visable means of winding up the expellees of the war. That re newal, mister all the circitiostatices of our financial situation, it was not his intention at present to recommend; but lie felt it to be his duty, in plopositio the substitution of other measures, to call the attention of the House to the important service %shit+ this tax had bi en the means of rendering to the country. He had himself been is party to its intruitiletion ; and he could assure the Committee, that there was no elle iiiestante of his public life on which lie looked bark with create' •-atistaction. In coniourtion with the other war' t..xes, it Sad .1 the public credit, and filially enabled us to assist midelistly treciing the deliverance of Europe. They hail saved a (limit il debt of brio it and 300.0 eO,OOOl. and au annual charge of 14,000 0001. The Property Tax alone had trios:need li° n 00,000., nod had saved a burtheis of 180,(000,0001. of debt, with 9,000,0001. of permanent saxes. (Hear, hear!) If he (dd at all agree with those who, in reprobating the tax on pro p/11y, described it to be as odious in principle as it was arbitrary in assessment and collection. lie certaitily should not now express any hope that Pauli:lmila would still consider it as a reserved risi retiree for Intuit: wars or critical emergencies. He knew it wan common to hear it called oppressive and inquisitorial, hut lie sin eerily believed that the gentlemen who gratuitously discharged the ditties of Commissioners had sliewn as much attention, justice, and impartiality, as, making due allowances for human infirmity, could lie reasonably expected from any body of men whatever. They were composed of persons who undertook the office front the most bold:ride amid patriotic motives; they were in general the Bfille gen tlemen who filled the commission of the peace, and maintained in the different functions of the magistracy, the internal order and tranquillity of the kingdom. He should never, therefore, listen to any remarks derogatory to their character, without doing Isis best to etrpel them. With respect to the powers conferred upon them by the Act, if we consulted precedents we sl.ould find no resist* to consider them as excessive. By the Act lst Anne, sect. 1. chap. 15, on the renewal of the French war, a tax subsequent to that on land was imposed on personal property. The tax amounted to fifty shillings on write), tw enty-five on income, four rift trades, and tour ou pro. lessions. The assessois were empowered to kb.: penalties, and - the commissioners to summon, enquire, and examine upon oath. By the law as it then stood, every trailer was obliged to deliver in an account of his stock in trade. The present tax ou property made personal enquirks, and whatever might be its inconveniences and ' leen:o, as applied to income digit ed from trade, he considered it as it affected land, to approach to perfection. A clause had been ii.erted in 1803, for the purpose of rkmeilying, in some degree, this evil, by referring cases to private arbitration, but it was aniise gneutly lie was anxious to state his view of the import; .115(t• .111(1 advantages of this measure, in the event of eircumstances• caitcr rendering it necessary to call it onec more into intim). is loolotibledly was strictly a war tax; and though it stood pledged ti,! several yews at the peace of Amiens, and although by cutting off so productive a suttee of revenue at a 'time when the war ex pondi tore still remained to be wound up. the loan for theservice of I!.r year must necessarily be large, be still thought that the great of prices insist render it, if linker continued. tar more vexatious in its operation, and unequal in its pressure. than at any• periotl.• The farmer, in particular, must be exposed to a eilaroe considerably higher than any estimate of his real profits justify, as it had beet' the practice hitherto to calculate his I.:come on a general principle of .asitessuient. It had been proposed in him, and probably similar atio . westions had presented themselves to many who now heard him, to, continue the tax on property under d'iferent modifications. One of these plans proposed to exempt the e;.!..s of farmers altogether, and apply the tax only to property of a mixed description. obvious objection to this was, that in every loan act, a clause was introduced. exempting the stock of the con tractors front the tax; and whenever the principle of exemption should be admitted, the stock-holder, as a public creditor, would have the best title, viz. the faith of parliament to plead in his behalf. Another plan was to augment the tax considerably on the great pro; prietors, and reduce it as it affected persons of limited and narrow incomes. A very little attention, however, would shew the imprac tiesbility of such a project. The act at present gave no insight into the real property of any body : the tax was levied without reference to the name or business of the proprietor. To illustrate his meaning, ~ • M. Fro. -2 person who was a [molter in London nigh , and a munnfiletiirer at Lancaster, and ilia' . - lie should have a large landed estate and 100,000 in the Nods (a laugh This individual would wily pay upon his separate estates, nor wool it be possible for any man eveti to guess at' the gross aggregate his property. He was, ho,wever, lie admitted, decidedly of opinici that the taxeould not consistently with the views with which was originally instituted, be retained for more than another year, or for any other purpose than the final setnement of the war ex. peoditme ; and lie therefore thought it more advisable to lay aside at once, than to impair the principle by any new modifications, Iu laying before the committee the amount of supplies wanted foi the service of the year, it was impossible for liim,to state any precise sum, until intelligence of the ratification of the treaty of peace U. America should enable him to ascertain the period within whirl our fleets and armies could be recalled. The view, therefor , which lie was about to take of the financial situation of the ennui's would be less adapted to a peace establishment, than to a state tit' gradation from a war to a peace establishment. It would certain! be necessary to borrow to a large amount, but this amount inns; de Ircnd on the time within which it would be possible to limit ti; war expenditure. The 'cessation of the property tax must, of cour,e render a considerable augmentation of the loan necessary. Lookiu forward beyond the person year, it might be desirable to for a moment in a more extended view of our situation. Upou tio %%hole lie considered the prospect as very satisfactory. LI was not his intention to compare our situation with that at any former period of peculiar difficulty and embarrassment; such, for example, as Olaf at the close of the American war, when public credit seemed to be giving way, but should contrast if with a period when out revenue were iii the must flourishing state. He alluded to the year 179; shortly before the breaking out of the revolutionary war. It ap. peared by the report of a committee of finance at that time, the the produce of the different taxes composing the consolidated fund was, 13,47t,600/. and the charges upon it amounted to 11,321,000! leaving a surplus of '4161,0001 to this was to be added the produce of the land and malt taxes, t,57,5,0001. constituting a disposable fund of 4,7'26,0001. On the sth olJannary last our income amounted to 38.156,0001. to which was to be added another suns of upwards of 1,000,0001. making together a gross revenue of .10,962„,0001. The principal charge upon this was the interest of the funded debt at 33,420,0001. which, with the imperial loan, nade a total (4'35,773,000t, and, with tho addition of the other charges, amounted to 37,544,0001. leaving a permanent surplus of 5,418 0004 If to this were to be added the annual Wires, ulbititsited fir the land and malt, a sum total of 6,418.000/. would be found applicable to the support of the establishments of the country. a•much greater $lllll than that wi which we hum' the war. We had at that time besides a sinking fund of 1,300.000 t. only ; we had now one of more than 11,0 . 00,0001. The debt, indeed, was much larger, but our means of meeting it liar' increased in a fourfold proportion (hear, hear.) Considr ruble exei fious r liowever, were Still necessary. The house must be aware 61 apt requisite extention of our military establishment, from tlo necessity of preserving our coloniel settlements, for Malta, Ceylon, find especially for Canada. All this being taken into consideration, it would be room!, that the peace military establishment would not be far short of what it was at the Commencement of time war. When also it was recollected, that our navy bad been engaged in al autumn War for twenty years. it roast be seen at once, that very extensive repairs were necessary. The house therefore, won,' . Probably hear without surprise, that the expellee of the peace establishment would be eighteen or nineteen millions, including the Irish establislunent. He sincerely hoped, that at iio distant period some reduction might be possible ; bolt at present he nest assnmr that amount as the sum demanded, which, subducting • two runt,' for Ireland would leave 17 millions for Great Britain. To met' this demand, there were in the first place about 6f millions of per manent annual taxes : he should promise a coatinuance of the ni taxes. the customs, and excise, for a limited time, which vi mei produce a thriller sum of six millions, and lie should lay before th, house a plan for new taxes to the amount of 5 'millions, making . the whole 17 millions and a half. lint the house would reveller that the charges of the loan must be defrayed out of these taxes and indeed, even if the expenditure could be reduced to 15 millions, still there must be a necessity for new taxes, unless the sinking him' were to be resorted to, an expedient particularly to he avoido It would be found on examination, that after every war there was winding up of great amount, and of Considerable• duration. Tln expenses of the American war were not cleared even in 1786, and atter the peace of 1763, arrears of the war were still !unpaid it 1775. He would therefore readily confess, that the present wal expenses could not be wound up within a shorter period than foul lllow ..:., , AT 0 f', '. O ,-•r.„ , , , . , i 1 ~ NIONAL RUGISTER.. . . unsnumwealth : ; he sliobrd 'sirppose that a Mint', because ! be a merchant at Bristol, 1111 lint h). Aid of en, I it LX- it for ise by iclt IT, Iry of flit 11:e log tge the not od hat be ues 91, rip- hat ind kV. ice iud 10 I of 'he or II)!. be Inn the jilt ing lad cr- ot . the oil, hot len an rry nW 'cc thie iod me Lins evt WE- %Ar Mid the e( t 111(1 ed. IS 3 'he 86, in var