The Express.
London, England, 1849-03-09 00:00:00

amount of 67 millions par annum. Now we hay
difficulty in ascertaining, at all events approximation..—
.hat is the total income of Englead at this mown-
We have the parliamenetry paper moved for by in
gentleman opposite, parliamentary paper No. 747, egjag
gives us the amount of the income tax paid by England au
Wiles to the 25th April., 1646. the paper hum ben -
en the table of the house in 1847. It is a mere
having 40,4
rn
operation to calculate from the amount of inecenetresierie
perty tax contributed under the five schedules of Enema eg
1846, the amount of the total income of the property
stinted by that tax. The total income then of
land in the yesr ending 25th April, 1846, the 1
return under the five schedules, was 186,808,
but inasmuch as in the 67 millions, which is the useeeed
rental of real property in England, every clue of
in that limit is included, even cottages being rateds:
poor rate, in order to calculate the relative position of that
assessed rental of real property, with the entire property 0
England, it will be necessary to ascertain how much •
ueose
is held by that property which is not assesell to the
and income tax; and to do this, I shall adopt the 11-'ufl?ll4
down by the right honourable member fur Tarnworm.
• prudent and cautious authori y, when he intra
duced the property and income-tee measure. The right Ina,
baronet then too lc the income under 1501. a year at g
quarter of the whole income of the country, so that to dm
amount of 186,888.9581. chargeable with the prom,
I tax, the sum of 62,296,319/. must be added as the amp
of income not chargeable with that tax. These sums man
together 249,185,2791. staling as the total income of mg
country. Now, the question which I wish to ask the hem
is, why should this ten or twelve millions Merlin of die*
taxation be levied only upon a portion of the whole lammed
the country, and which is Rule more than • fourth of se
whole amount ? (Cheers) This is the simple q
It is a question in which this country is deeply int=4
and which a great portion of the country is now asking
self. (Hear, hear.) The income of this country la Se
millions, and yet, for the purposes to which I have
Nyou assess only one-fourth of that income. (fiat,
ow, on what principle of fairness or justice cue ysi
that usessment ? (Hear, hoer.) What are the (mink
these local taus ? The maintenance of the poor of Me
country, the maintenance of the means of internal commode
cation, the administration of justice, the maintenance often
sacred Mince of the land.: Bat are not these mitten
in which all property is equally interested? (Hear heft)
On what plea, on what principle, can you vindicate Me fte.
tun which makes one fourth only of the income of as
country liable to this great change ? (Hear, hear.) I%
question has boon laddientally introduced to us before; It
his been treated, as it were, personally ; I may say, without
offence to any one, it has bun treated superficially. (lan
heir.) There have been attempts to rein up idle and oaks
controversies between the landholders and the maniac.
turas * to who contributed most to the pour
as to who ought to contribute most to the poor rate,
and other endless and vexatious centrum...ties cf tgjg
kinl. Now it is said the agricultural interest bear
most of the harden; now It is asserted that home proems,
is most grievously oppressed. Ido not enter Mee theft 4;
cessions. lam not one of those who want to depreciate tt
importance of house property, who wish fey a monist
to shut my eyes to the fact that during the past half many
there has been a great change in the relative position of the
different sections of real property. (Hear, hear.) I s
far from wishing to disbelieve tribe, or to conceal it from,*
self ; on the contrary, I look at the result as one dame
satisfactory kind, as one proving the prosperity of mg
country, as proving by the dearest of testa, that the
is a greater and greater amount of fixed capital is tte
country. (Hear, hear.) I fully agree that families in tens
do support, and are assessed to the support of, their mor, eg
example, in • manner and degree that renders Me
growing at times clamorous under the burden matter ot m
surprise at all. (Hear, hear.) lam perfectly willing teed
met, that their contributions are ample, are more tee
ample, are grievous ; and I fully sympathies with the pe.
senors of real property in towns, who are uspelly
and disproportionately assessed. The mann what
I shall introduce, if the house consent to p
into committee this night, is one which relieve
the suffering towns where these complaint' Wm
Manchester, Bradford, all the great heats of manufsctu
industry. I sympathies with their sufferings, I acknowledge
their grievances, and I my it is intolerable that the led
property in these towns, a portion of a fourth part wily elk
whole property of the country, should have this grime
burden imposed on it. So it is with another wry important
species of property, very amply and ably represented in**
house, the holders of which are constantly in hot water ft
the subject of the poor rates in which they are aarsal;
nothing can be more monstrous than the amount ethic:hide
mended from railway companies under the head of pox rate
I agree in all their complaints on this subject, though I do
not concur in their remedy, considering as I do Outdate '
would be no justice in the railway companies removing the
infliction from themselves, and placing it on the shoelaces!
the agricultural interest. I admit their grievance fully, sad
protest against this section of one fourth only of the this
property of the country paying taxes for the whole commuity.
If the proprietor' of railways will only support me is tft
resolution I have to offer, they. will obtain that relief wine
they seek. The same complaint has been made by to
great associations formed for supplying water and light Mae
metropolis and other large tOWEII. There is • *mead
wrangling going on between these companies, and the
assessors of the poor rater. Their complaints are perfidy
right, ;and their claims to be fairly rated quite just. Bet,
sir, some of my agricultural friends seem to think test
they are also right if they can succeed in lathed* at
undue proportion of these berthas' on these NM
panics ; I, for my own part, consider it to be a net
unjust and inequitable circumstance that they, constitutim
only a portion of the fourth of the income that pays Om
taxes, should be visited with so nude* • share of this.
(Hear.) These eompanios, however, will have an *pork
nity afforded them of obtaining a redress of their grievance
by supporting those measures which, if the house sanctions
my. resolution, I shall product, measures which are funded.
in justice, and which are certain, sooner or later, to succeed
(Hear, hear.) If we were calmly to consider this ease; if
the circumstances which I have stated did not eccu
England ; if any of us happened to be travelling is a
foreign country where we first should become acquaised
with &system of finance so intricate and complicated as em
is ; if we became aware of the fact that a separate ssd
a private revenue was assessed and levied upon one fool*
part only of the whole property of the country-what we*
be the conclusion that we should draw from such a stated
things ? Should we not say this section of the people, its
are subjected to this exclusive taxation, must be the ramie
of • conquered race ? In this inequality of taxation we die
cover the proofs of • slavery which we as Englishmen weed
not tolerate for one moment. (Cheery.) But who wall
suppose that this exclusive taxation was the peculiar privilege
of a proud and rapacious landed aristocracy-(hear)-es
aristocracy who as we are constantly told have made tie
laws, and always for their own advantage? (Hear, hear.) Bet
the most curious and anomalous feature of this unparalleled
state of affairs is, that it Is not the law of England-a he
which is founded on common sense, and which never amid'
meted that such monstrous and such oppressive co:clerics
would be drawn from the accidental circumstances what
have grown up around the institutions of England. I need
not remind the house that the old statutes regulating the ti
lief of the poor never anticipated such monstrous cute
quenees as have resulted from their enactment. Even that
most benign and sagacious
i law, the 43rd of Elizabeth, eft
fines the enunciation of its ntentions to these words:-
" All the inhabitants of England are, according to
their means, to contribute henceforth to the relief aft
support of the poor." And in the time of Willies
and Mary, when the first mention of the land tax
occurs in our history, it is only called in common parlays
the land tax, for in point of fact it was a tax levig on pro
perty of every description. Even very recently ill the
civil officers of the crown were subjected to this tax, al
at the present moment the salaries of the judges are
assessed to it at the rate of 4e. in the pound, though I M.
Hare that the sla is assessed at the same amount es it
was in the time of William and Mary. (A laugh.) 1 fled
it established by repeated decisions in former time' of tee
courts of law, and also in modern days, as often &dud
that every species of property, of all kinds, is liable to tut
dame imposts for the relief of the poor at real peeped
singly bears, and at the present moment stock in trade oslj
escapes from being Wend to the poor rates by sn us
tadu
bill, which is also passed by those rapacious Judd
aristocrats, who thus let stock in trade weep
the payments which they consent to nuke is rm.
peat of their real property. I have, therefore, aSO
to ask, first, what show of noun there is why, for the ft•
juts and purposes for which these particular rates and Isles
are levied, the whole tangible property, personal as well se
real, of the district should not be equally liable to be mew&
The inhabitant of the distrief„ the puma of proPstl
residing therein-whether his means consist of broad sea
Or of propertzederived from other sources-is equlllll
rested with t landowner in the state of the rude 446 ,
equally liable to be called on to contribute to the relief 4!
the poor. He is equally interested in the administrations
justice. And I hope, for the good of his &eel, he lawn*
takes an interest in the maintenance of the church. NI
is no human being can advance an argument contrary to tbs:
fact which I now state. Yon may say that the system h
so long gone on, and is so artificially Interwoven with the
great institutions of the country, that it would be difficult*
nay, even impassible-to extricate ourselves from its enter
glean:Mr. And indeed lam ready at once to admit thlt
there is nothing so difficult to effect as to levy a vas ups
personal property in a country-I may say it is aimed Is'
epottbalnettoly do so.
prevailed
reeptheseectutoe
"the
suargemt.entsßthatatih;
on the other hand, that no one can meet the principle off*
tic, on which my argument is based. (Hear, hear.) No oar
will assert that it is just for personal property to resTs
exempt from paying its share of the general contributim It
may be expedient that things should be as they have toss
and as they now are : but you cannot say it is jut. (Hum
hear.) I admit fully, frankly, freely, the inconvenienee-'
the impossibility of rating personal property in a 'adducer!
or indubitable manner to the relief of the poor. (Beg))
Bat nevertheless I am strongly of opinion that if we pul!!
this important inquiry with lees of that superficial "pint ire
tuthlramtptrmaesevailybedediffidinculiscofitiestmvere:idisill cfnisuseiphopensefiarom,fttophrials• tokhai.ntidt 'aiwppeeeortelastlimool
lee
that a great deal of the difficulty arises out of a conhiscontusion
Wrens, by which people have been led to aegociets the idel.
kcal taxation with the necessary and inseparable consepLeer_
that the purposes for which it is levied are purely to :al. Now
I doubt very much whether any argument could be "r
ported which rested the local taxes on the ground that
are for purposes exclusively local. On the contruy,..lr
these pupupurposescan be shown to possess • wider and !
comprehensive character than has been ass.gned to te,
will take the first and the meat important of met
and try it by this teat. I know of no mein reason why
maintenance of the poor should be held to be the e° oil:::
duty of the locality in which they are found. Tlls m soci;
mince of the poor is either a matter of police, or it