The National Register. — London, England, 1816-02-19 00:00:00

... w ...- •••.• .- ‘11.111.7 • • ... . , .... . . . • . 1 ' ' l ;' .', .' . _.... A . . . • l i l rot ttatiooali e A tatlS _ - - --- --- • - . Our l in g, Conottution any Utdoil. No. 424.—V0L. VIII. MON DA .::ter POLITICAL DISQUISITION. Tax on incoi . direct tax upon PUTNCIPLES of Pow iesL EcoNomv applied as A TEST upon commercie fin. the Prupriety gt . A TAX on I N comr., books are mspee man and mums • IN war lot, we considered the Property-tax in rela.. for Government tion to its immediate influence. We have now to take money or ninth .:. a v i e w of it upon principles of political economy, and and easily eollee considering it as a permanent system or revenue. On can never be fi ~ this subject, we nutst claim a little the attention of our o f i nqu i s i tor i a l 7 nwders, while we attempt to develop, as briefly and as it would be a t clearly as we can, some principles and data with respect industry., it tax r ) --i: to taxation, the revenue, and public as well as private - vis v wealth, which we believe arc not generally known, or b w h om a l one ..;th tlio truth of which the public at large are not suf. ita., or vital y ana nrivate wet eo• :911 1 itr+ V IMO At , ' • ,Y, FERlalitt 19, 1816. :, we may be assured, is principally a the rent &land. To make it effectual 1 income is imiossible, unless every man's :ed by the tki - eniment, and every trades. tisetarer concerted into a mere receiver . As a tax upon land, and interest of d property, it may be fully, and Early, red. As a tax. pon commercial gains, it lly collected, even with all the ingontity inspectors and assessors. If it were so, et upon commercial capital, a tax upon Itrin. the productive 'adagios, upon the per of thoOdustrious class of society, ,public cad priirate revenue is created, accamulat.+l. Here again we here ....oer proof of the ultimate tendency of all taxation to bear upon the rent of land, and.permantatt revenue. For the source of all income is industry : it' then the tax takes from the amount of that which iSnecessary to the support of the industrious, or to their accumulation, by which new capital for improvements is raised, it takes just so much from what would be the increase of rent ultimately to be added by it to the sources of permanent revenue. The quantity of taxes, then, that a nation will actually bear without injury, is just so much *scan be spared front thepermanent sources of revenue. These, as far as they are necessary, must be left to their present possessors. But there is a surplus which may fairly be raised by tax ation ; and which, being taken from the rents and un productive sources of the revenue of the people, is no di minution of the means of increasing wealth. This is the excess which luxury, and which, it' taken ' tributed among mein. Wealth that sort of public instruction which ought to be de manded of a free press, and which constitutes its sole utility. We have devoted our pages to free, calm. and unprejudiced inquiry. We wish to speak of measures, rather than of men; and we trust, that our readers will nut place the less confidence in our advice, becetese it is given with the calmness which becomes truth, and the firmness which ' firmness which bespeaks sincerity. n!imemtnlem ebe soeincat *Natter. NUMBER. 1. so.rs rortmoTrirtioirit Err Lim. AMONt.; the most traitrwhishtbararterlio the present state or see et, in this countgove mar reckon, as not the least advantagems, that of Wfts- I love of me.. dice' reading, which reigns areongst all orders of ale. The desire of obtaining anthrmation on a subject so =par- tent to mankind in general, and so interesting to every individual, as the preservation of health, is at once both natural and laudable, and deserves rather to be cultivated and encouraged than discountenaneed and suppressed. At the same time, it is no less essential that this active propcn.. sity should not be suffered to prevail without being guid ed into a proper and useful direction, and that an ade quate supply of salutary materials be afforded for its doe employment. Various, however, and great are the diffi culties which stand in the way of accomplishing so desira ble an object. No study, indeed, is so fenced in with technicalities, or dependent on so many auxiliary seiences, as that of medicine; nor can it be successfully practised as an art, but by him who, to years of preparatory study, shall have added the fruits of long personal experience. ,Ana- Chemi- - the laws of organic each tbk • the bash- S• ob- fieiently impressed. It has been for a long time a question among financiers mind political economists, out of what source taxes are actually raised ; whether they bear ultimately upon the /and abate, or are fairly divided between all parties in the community, and paid out of commercial and manu facturing industry. To resolve this question fully and accunitely, it is necessary to go somewhat profoundly into the nature of the different sources of revenue and of wealth, which in a weekly register of politics would be impos.sible. We shall endeavour to avoid this ; but must briefly premise, that all income or revenue must be de rived either from the rent of land, front interest of money, the profits of trade, or the wages of labour. Ultimately, however, it will be found, that profits accu mulated, and interest to be continued for any length of time, will be converted into the rent of land. Wealth itself' consists of permanent and consumable things. The permanent are land, houses, and machinery ; the con sumable, live-stock, raw produce, and manufactured and commercial goods. Rent, interest, profits, wages of labour, may be con sidered as the titles by which each man's claim to these various articles, as they annually arise and are consumed, may he ascertained.: for the mass of the whole people must divide the whole wealth, or growing produce, and existing commodities, together with the houses and land of the nation, tweording to some given proportion, which may be militated by the whole value of rent and inte rest, and the *hire amdanft of profits of trade, of wages, end of labour. These carious items, therefore, we will consider as put for the whole community ; and any charge upon the wealth of the whole community must be distributed among them according to these propor tione. as they exist at any given time. Suppose any portion of thin wealth to be raised from ' among the litople, however it may be re:sed, it must ultimately be distributed so as to bear upon the perma nent, and not the actual or present wealth, fur the time being, of the community. It' it is raised by taxing land, 110116e:4, and the interest of money, this is a direct tax on permanent income, and is a mere transfer of the perma nent property from its present possessors, to some other persons to whom it is distributed by the hands of Go vernment, throttqh the medium of their expenditure. If it he raised directly on commodities, they must be taxed in money, or seized in specie, which is nearly the same thing, and the dealer in the connuodities raises the prices of them according to the tax. By this means, the dealer himself entirely avoids the burthen of the tax. Were the goods arbitrarily seized in specie, the tali:et w mid be nearly the same; for traders generally purchase upon credit, and to ruin the trader is to ruin the credi tor and the capitalist ; &truth which, in thc general insolvena cy ofall classes of the community, is, we believe, very clearly perceived at the moment in which we arc now writing. Raise money and levy taxes in any way, it will, we believe, ultimately lidl upon the rent of land, houses, and machinery, although for a time it may be borne rather severely by the traders and manufacturers. 'We are ourselves. indeed, fully convinced that a perpetual charge can only be paid by a perpetual fund, sash as the law in England designates by the Rea real estate. The national debt will therefore he found a mere charge upon the national rents. Taxes levied in one year, may bear upon the industry of the country; and the rent of land, indeed, is the result of the industry of the country. But indus try is at, ll times kept at its full stretch, according to the manners, habits, and nature of. property, at any given epoch of time. Diminish industry, and wealth is dimi nished; lessen time rewards of industry, and the excite ment being gone, the activity and powers of' life, so to speak, which are necessary to the maintenance of the national industry, arc destroyed. The moment, then, that any system of taxation be; to press severely upon this lass, that moment national income is diminished, because industry becomes either paltied or barren, and revenue and taxation fa compati • of per- the rich are lessened, meet are supported made to change han diture as is confined certainly does= been raised; and wealthy, thelti the industrious In the in the ._ uries of a Court, warfare, and the stability to the Government, wt.- - have no exist ence if it did not thus divide the people among them selves; and, raising from the many the means of its sup port, ann and combine the few to unite in ruling over them. Absolute power is a phantom of the in ; real power is the union of the Government and its dependents, who raise from the people the very means which, distributed among themselves; engender, combine, and perpetuate their ascendancy. Power therdhre, to be even despotic, must be divided among numbers against still greater numbers, from whom the sums which are indivi dually raised are too small to excite serious discontent. There is, however, a limit to this system of taxation; since, if the influence of the Government be extended among too great a number, those who remain are not equal to their support. We have hitherto considered taxation in the ah 4 t rac t,with out regard to the operation of money, 9r circulating me dium, in which' taxes are raised and paid, and in which the wealth and means or the people are estimated. To understand the complicated system of modern finance, and the mode in which taxes arc difttributed with respect to their burthen upon the people, is is necessary to have some clear ideas upon this subject. We have already established soll fixed notions and irrefragahle data concerning the r: wealth of the peo ple, and the sources from which it is raised, as well as the means by which it is distributed. ' Define we can eluci date clearly the effect of any particUlar system of taxa tien, we must briefly -trace the natiste of the meditifit in which it is calculated. This will lead•us to a short ac count of the effect of money, whirher in paper or in metal, upon the revenue atilt- Snlte and people ; and we find, that we must necessarily reserve this for a future essay. We crave the indulgence of our readers for ano ther week; and we trust we shall then he enabled to show them the baneful influence of all taxation of income. We cannot explain ourselves Nailer at present : we have al ready said, that if a tax on income sive not tt njust, partial, ruinous, and oppressive, we must fillrt it even in peace; and we hope to convince them at la—.that the only vim, safe, and just system of taxation, is the taxation of com modities. :n doing this, we nttack no party, we#ratify 'no personal animosity—we perforitynereiy the task we have undertaken,--s-that of,giving, hitt= of difficulty, but research; proper cy general r, _ of society sit large. A series of such truths , comprising the fund .mental principles of medical science, it would he ,highly advantageous to diffuse among the generality of people; while the practical adaptation of these generd principles to the particular circumstances of individual discuses, would be most successfully directed by those whose peculiar education, and exclusive devotion to the science as a profession, more immediately qualify thent thr. the office. Such a general knowledge of medicine, amt that which I now advocate, would enable him who pos... sessed it, to discriminate between the ignorant pretender und the real man of science; would protect him from the artifices of illiterate and designing empirics, and become at once a safeguard to his person and his purse. It is a lamentable fact, that even in the present enlight ened state of the public mind, medical empiricism should stalk abroad with such unblushing front, and that so many should fall victims to the unprincipled impositions suffered to pass in this country with impunity. No more certain chect, could be given to this evil, nor a more ready stop be put to its extensive prevalence, than by constituting 'the elementary principles of medical science a part of gene ral education, and thus teaching the well-informed youth to subject the pretension of the empiric to the scrutiny of rational examination. A generation must pass away, before the good effects of such a plan could be filly rea lised: in the mean time, impressed with a conviction, that much good might arise front a more general difflision • of medical opinions, grounded on extensive experience, and supported by scientific principles. I propose to sub.. mit from time to time for public consideration, through the medium of this paper, a statement of the prevailing diseases of the metropolis, accompanied by such observa tions as may appear best calculated to lead to the adoption of these general measures of prevention or removal, whiek it is in the power of every one to pursue, and thus to con tribute, as mach as is in my power, to the diminution of individual distress, and the promotion of the general veal , fare. That the task might easily have fallen inieretore able hands, I will readily allow; but the silence of others, although better qualified, on so interesting a topic, could font no justification for withholding my humble endea. ' - vours; whilst, however improper and unsuccessful may be my attempt, in zeal and good intentions I should rev luctantly give place to any one. ..... ... . _ sccss which .the wealthy devote to luxury, and tomv, Physiology, Botany, Chemistry, the laws of orgrie , it' taken from them by tax*tion, is afterwards dis- life, and the reciprocal action of mind and laxly upon each al among the people by the expenditure of Govern- other, must be familiar to him who would detect the Wealth thus is made to circulate. The means of latent nature of the numerous diseases afflicting the ha- lt are lessened, but others e*ployed by the Govern- i man frame, and apply remedies for their removal. So. are supported and euriched, and property is only extensive a study, and such exclusive attention to one oh- to change hands. We now speak of such expen- jest, however important, can hardly he supposed compati- as is confined to domestic employment, and which ble with the ordinary pursuits of the generality of per- sly does return among the people from whom it has sons, and hence an argument has been adduced agaiast raised; and if raised wholly or principally from the the utility ut' all popular medical reading. This tap- Ely, th e luxurious ; and the idle istuill expended among ment, however, is more specious than solid, and applies idustrious and productive patt of the CO- - ratter - 1e ttirgelain - than the principle. A simple but t hands of the rich, it would be umPlOyed in liiiiiies; important truth, the result of years of laborious research; hands of Coveroment, it itisatle to supply t4e hot- o r the furt...na . :e discovery of some diligent enquirer, :nay As a Court, the multiplied combinations of systematic -be c nina•nticated in language easily comprehended hy re, and the influence which alone gives power and the general reader, and thus become the common property icy to the Government, which could have no axis:- of society ut large. A series; of such truths, comprising 1 IV r. 1 ;