The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1781-01-16 00:00:00, page 1

IN OW pass on to Shew the value of the pre
fect taxes, and compare them with the annual
expence ; but this I shall preface with a few ex
planatory remarks.
There are two diftinft things which make the
payment of taxes difficult; the one is the large and
real value of the sum to be paid, and the other is
the scarcity of the thing hi whicti the payment is
to be made ; and although these appear to be one
and the fame, they are in several inftarices npt
only different, but the difficulty firings frohi dif
ferent causes. .
Suppofe^ tax was to be laid equal to one half
of what a mans yearly income ifyfuch a tax could,
out be paid bpcaufe the property could not be
spared; and on the other hand, suppose a very
trifling tax' was laid to be collected in pearls, such
a tax likewise could not be paid, because it could
not be had. Now any perlon may fee,that these
are diftin& cases, and the latter of them is a re
presentation of ours.
That the difficulty cannot proceed from the
former, that is, from the real value or weight of
the tax is evident at firft view to any person who
trill confider it. ; , , 4
The amount of the quota of taxes for this State
for the present year, 1780.(and so on in propor
tion for every other State) is twenty millions of
dollars, which at seventy for one is but sixty four
thousand two hundred and eighty pounds three
frillings fterlipg, and on an average is no more,
than three killings and five pence Sterling per
head per annum per man, women and children,'
dr five pence per head per month. Now here is
a clear positive fa&, that cannot be contradicted,
and which proves that the difficulty cannot be in
the weight of the tax, for in itfelf it is a trifle and
far,from being adequate to oiir quota of the ex
pence of the war. The quit rents of one penny
sterling per acre On only one half the State, come
to tipwards of fifty thousand pounds, which is
almost as much as all the taxes of the present
year, and as these quit rents made no part of the
taxes then paid, and are now discontinued, the
quantity of money drawn for . public Service this
year, exclusive of the militia fines, which I shall
take notice of in the process of this work, is less
than what was paid and payable, in any year pre
ceding.the revolution, and since the last war;
what I mean is that the quit rents and taxes taken
together came to a larger sum then than the pre
sent taxes without the quit rents do now.
My intention by these arguments and calcula
tions is to place the difficulty to the right cause,
and (hew that it does not proceed from die weight
or worth of tbe tax, but from the scarcity of the
medium in which it is paid ; and to illustrate this
point Still farther, I Shall now Shew, that if the
tax of twenty millions of dollars was of four
times the real value it now is or nearly so, which
would be about two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds sterling, and would be our full quota,
that this sum would have been railed with more
cede, and less felt, than the present sum of only
sixty four thousand tuo hundred, and eighty
pounds.
TheCRISIS EXTRAORDINARY.
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.
By the Author ^Common Sense.
(On the Subject of TAXATI 0 N.)
( Concluded from our last.)
HARTFORD : Printed by HUDSON and G O O D W I N, near the Great Bridge.
TUESDAY, January 16, 1781.
The convenience or inconvenience of paying a
tax in money arises from the quantity of money
that can be spared out of trade.
When the emissions ftopt, the continent was
left in pofleffion of fwp hundred millions of dol
lars, perhaps as equally dispersed as it was pol
fible for trade to do it. And as no more was to
be issued, the rife or sass of prices could neither
increase nor diminish the quantity. It therefore
remained the fame though all the fluctuations ' of
trade and exchange.,
Now had the exchange flood at twenty for one,
which was the rate Congrefs' calculated upon
when they quoted the States the flatter end of
last year, trade would have been carried on for
nearly four times less money than it is now, and
consequently the twenty millions would have
Been spared with much greater ease, and v. hen
collected would have been of almost four times
the value they now are, .And on the other hand,
was the depreciation so be at ninety or one hun
dred for one, the quantity required for trade
Would be more than at fitly or seventy for one,
and though the value of the tax would be lets,
the difficulty of Sparing the money out of trades
would be greater, .And on these faffs and ar
guments I rest the matter, to prove, that it is not
the want of property, but the scarcity of the me
dium Ry which the proportion of property for
taxation is to be measured, tit, that makes the
embarrassment we lie under. There is not moncy.
enough, and what is equally as true, the peo
ple will not let there be money enough.
. While I am on the fubjca of the currency, I
shall offer one remark which will appear true to
every body, and can be accounted for by nobody,
which is, that the better the times were, the
worse the money grew,; and the vtorfe thetimes
were, the better the money flood. It never de
preciated by any advantage obtained by the ene
my, The troubles of seventy fix, and the loss of
Philadelphia in seventy feyen,. made no sensible
impression on it,° and every one knows, that tfe
surrender of Charleftown did not produce the.
least alteration in the rate of exchange, which for
long beforehand formore than three months after,
flood at sixty for one It feeins as if the certainty
of its beingour own made us carel^fs of its value,
and that the molt distant thoughts of losing it
made us hug it the closer, like fomethirig we were
loth to part with ; or that we depreciate it for
our pastime, which, when called to seriousness
by the enemy, we leave off to renew, again at our
leisure. In fliort our good luck Seem to break us,
and our bad make us whole.
Palling on from this digreffion,T shall now en
deavor to bring into one view the several parts I
have already Rated, and form thereon some pro
portions, and conclude.
Grave placed before the reader, the average
tax per head paid by the people in England ;
which is forty shillings sterling.
And I have shewn the rate on an average per
head, which will defray all the expence of the
war to us, and support the several governments
without running the country into debt, which is
thirteen (hillings and four pence.
I have shewn what the peace eftabliflimcntmay
be conducted for, viz. an eighth part of what it
would be. if under the government of Britain
And I nave likewise shewn what the average
per head of the present taxes are, namely, three
findings and five pence sterling or five pence per
month ; and that their /whole yearly value in
sterling is only sixty four thousand two hundred
and eighty pounds. Whereas our quota to keep
the payments equal with the expences, is two
hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Consequent
ly there is a deficiency of one hundred and eighty,
five thousand seven hundred and twenty pounds,
and the lame proportion of defe&, according to.
the several quotas, happens in every other State.,
And this defe& is the cause why the the army has
been so indifferently fcd; eloathed and paid. It
is the cause, likewise; of the nerveless Rate of the,
campaign, and the insecurity of the country.
Now if a tax equal to thirteen and four pence
per head will remove all these difficulties, make,
people iecure in their homqs, leave them to fol
low the buhnefs of their stores and farms un
molelled, and not only.keep out, but drive out
the enemy from the country ; and if the neglect ,
of railing this sum will let them in, and produce,
the evils which might be prevented, on which
fide, I ask, does the wisdom, interest and policy
lie ? Or rather woqld it not be an. insult to reafoii
to put the gueftiom. The sum when portioned,
out according to the several abilities of the peo-.
ple, can hurt no ope, but a)i inroad from the ene
my ruins hundreds of families. ;, &
-Look at the deffruaiop done in this city. /The.
many houses totally destroyed, and others da r
piaged ; the waste of fences in the country round
it; betides the plunder of furniture, forage and;
provifron. Ido not suppose that half a million,
sterling would reinstate the fufferers, and does
this, I ask, bear any proportion to the expence
that would make us le'cufe, The damage on an
average is at leatt ten pound sterling per head, which
is as much, as thirteen shillings and fourpence per
head/ comes to for fifteen .years. Thefanje has
happened on the frontiers, and in .the Jerfies,
New-York, and Other places, where the enemy
has been, Carolina and Georgia is likewise fuf
fering the fame fate/ . & ,
That the people generally, do not ' ufaderftand
the infufficiency of thq taxes to carry on the war,
is, evident,' not only from common observation,
but from the eonftruQidh of several petitions,
which were preferred to the assembly of this
State, against the recommendation of Congress
of the 18th of March lull, for taking up and
funding the present currency, tat forty for one,
and issuing new money in its Head. The prayer
of the petition was, ". That the currency anight
be appreciated in taxes (hieaning thepreferQaxes)
and that part of the taxes be, applied ,6, &e sup-„
port of the army; if the afCy couldfnpt be other
wise Supported." , Now it could opt have been,
poflibte forfuch a petition 'p hrivebeen presented
had the petitioifetfkndwn,' th,atJo far from part
of the taxes'being ' Ibihcientforthe Support of the
army, the whole of therif falls thrae fourths fliort
of the year's expense's, , ~•
Before I'proceed to propose methods by which
a Sufficiency of money may be raised, I fnall take
a fliort rie\v of the general state of the country.
Notwithstanding the weight of the war, the
ravages of the enemy, and the obftru&ions She
has thrown in the way of trade and commerce,
so soon does a young country outgrowmisfortune,
that America has already surmounted many that
once heavily opprefled her. For the firft year
or two of the war, we were fliut up within our
ports, Scarce venturing to look towards the
ocean. Now our rivers are beautified with large
(No. 833.)