# Treatise of Taxes and Contributions (1899)

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A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions was first pubished in 1662 anonimously. It was reprinted several times during Petty's life. This edition, which is the one most often cited, is from the The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, edited by Charles Henry Hull, and published in 1899.
A
TREATISE
OF
Taxes & Contributions.
Shewing the Nature and Measures of
| $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Crown-Lands. Assessements. Customs. Poll-Moneys. Lotteries. Benevolence. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Penalties. Monopolies. Offices. Tythes. Raising of Coins. Harth-Money. Excize, &c. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ |
With several intersperst Discourses and Digressions concerning
| $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Warres. The Church. Universities. Rents & Purchases. Usury & Exchange. Banks & Lombards. Registries for Con- veyances. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Beggars. Ensurance. Exportation of $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ Money. Wool. Free-Ports. Coins. Housing. Liberty of Con- science, &c. | $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,$ |
The same being frequently applied to the pre- sent State and Affairs of
IRELAND.
London, Printed for N. Brooke, at the Angel in Cornhill. 1662.
NOTE ON THE "TREATISE OF TAXES."
The Treatise of Taxes and Contributions is the earliest of Petty's economic writings. Since it mentions Graunt's Observations, published in January, 1662, as "lately made," and inasmuch as Petty was in Ireland before the end of October, the Treatise was probably composed in the early months of 1662. About this time Petty, relieved from his political anxieties, returned with vigour to his scientific pursuits. He experimented with the Double Bottom, and wrote, in addition to the Treatise, his Discourse concerning the Making of Cloth, his Apparatus to the History of Dying, and a paper on shipping.
The precise date of the publication of the Treatise is not known. If we take the phrase "a parliament most affectionate to his [Ormond's] person" as an allusion to the gift of £30,000 voted to Ormond by the Irish House of Commons 4 March, 1662 and acknowledged by him in a letter from Whitehall 19 April, we may well believe White Kennett's assertion that the Treatise first appeared in May, 1662. If, on the other hand, we note Petty's statement that its birth "happened to be about the time of the Duke of Ormond's going Lord Lieutenant into Ireland," we shall place the publication nearly two months later. It appears, however, that Ormond's departure, postponed by the King's marriage until the beginning of July, was originally planned to take place in April. ​We can, therefore, bring the two passages into harmony by assuming that Petty wrote his preface, above quoted, in April, when he expected Ormond to go to Ireland at once, and that the Treatise was published in May, 1662.
Four editions of the Treatise were issued during Petty's lifetime. Of these it is probable that the first alone was authorized by him. The second (1667) was printed at London during his absence in Ireland, and the edition of 1679 seems to have been issued against his expressed wishes. On the 29th May, 1678, he wrote to Aubrey, "As for the Reprinting the Booke of Taxes I will not meddle with it. I never had thanks for any publick good I ever did, nor doe I owne any such booke." And on the 5th October following, in a letter to Sir Robert Southwell, he again expressed his unwillingness to have the Treatise reprinted. The edition of 1685, being but a re-issue, with a new title-page, of the sheets printed in 1679, is of no independent authority. The first edition, here reprinted, must, therefore, be esteemed the most authentic of the four, and although no MS. has been found, the language of the preface gives assurance that it was not set forth without the author's approval. The edition is anonymous. The first public recognition of its authorship which I have noted occurs in the " Suppliment " to Brief Considerations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money. By J[osiah] C[hild]. London, Elizabeth Calvert, 1668.
* ↑ P. 27.
* ↑ Letter to Sir Robert Moray, Roy. Soc. MS. Letter Book, P, i, p. 11.
* ↑ Fitzmaurice, 104—107.
* ↑ Birch, History of the Royal Society, i, 65, also Bibliography, 7, 28.
* ↑ P. 9.
* ↑ Polit. Anat., ch. ix.
* ↑ Kennett, Register and Chronicle, 703.
* ↑ Carte, Ormond, ii, 257.
* ↑ See Bibliography, 6.
* ↑ Fitzmaurice, 258. The original letter is in the Bodleian Library, Aubrey MS. ii, f. 110; Lord E. Fitzmaurice used the copy in the British Museum, Egerton MS. 2231, f. 90.
* ↑ Thorpe's Catalogus lib. MSS. bibl. Southwellianæ (1834), p. 403.
* ↑ The edition of 1662 is carelessly printed. Obvious misspellings, such as "enrease" for "encrease" (original, p. 4), "statseman" for "Statesman" (p. 41), "Beeer" for "Beer" (p. 74), have been corrected in this reprint. In all other cases the original has been scrupulously followed, but mistakes noted in the "errata" are indicated in footnotes. The "errata" are also reprinted on pages 96 and 97.
* ↑ Reprinted in Child's New Discourse of Trade (1693), p. 26.
Contents
The Treatise contains the following chapters: