The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-03-13 00:00:00

DUTY ON HORSES Usr.D IN AORKI.II.TURI.

The Order of the Day beam read f a the gecoll
Rea• ling of the. Bill for imposing an Additional Duty
on Horses 'twain Aviculture ; -
Mr. PLUMhtER rose.to obleit Co it. He 404,
his reason for doing u was, that the duty bore, sv,d.
a very extraordinary degree of pressure, on tit
farmer ; and, sconsequently, in the end. on the
linded interest. The farmers of this country, he
sSid, were by no means, that very opulent class of
Men they had been falsely represented to be, mld!te
was well convinced, the times were better for ,:te
farmer, when corn sold at Ss. or 9s. per bushel. u as
in those in which it had reached the yes y h prices,
at which it had been in the course of a few years
last past. He had been told, that this ma wadi,
as taxes generally do, fall on the consulates, btu
who, he asked. are the consumers? The }thew
is very dire&, said he; those who eat as
such, it must fall with the greatest weight ea the
lower and poorer orders of the community, and
therefore he was averse from it. A Comm;trer abyss
stairs had, in the course of last Session, been a kinz
time employed to inquire i.ito the Most cffetinal
means of reducing the price of corn, and, conse-
quently, of bread, and the result of that inquiry was,
that it would be necessary to take every possihk s;ep
towards the improvement of agriculture. The pro.
sent tax, he was convinced, would very easteria4
impede the interests of agriculture, and therefore he
Wila against it. He assured the Hons 2 that be ail
not say this from any captious opposition to taxes,
hut from a thorough convietion, in his own mind,
that he was strongly impelled by his duty, to make
the observations he had done.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUE
said, he believed the Hon. Gentleman, in what he
had said, was; not aduated by any captious opposi-
tion to the Bill, but spoke from what he dezined
fair objedion to the tax. He admitted that the
tax would ulcinittely prove akax on esinsumeoo, as
taxes hi general did ; but then he contended; tha.
the farmer would not•be the person most injured. It
was impossible, he said, to lay taxes to a eery coia.-
derable extent, in such a manner as that they would
not apparently fall heavy, at first view, on some we
clam of- the community spore than the rest; hut
then it was to be remembered, that in process of
tittle they operated.so as to, find a general level. xi
Hon. Gentlemen wottlffetessider what the propor-
tion of this tax it on koniumption, they would tied
that it Is by no means so heavy or oh:edionable
seems to be imagined. The whole tax will amount
to about 300;0001. and when it is considered how
many hones' are employed in various ways, such ai.
brewers deity's, waggons, de. etc. there cannot be
mom:am two-thirds of horses kept for the .purpoe
of agriculture taxed, and this would not amonat to
Morethinloo,oool. When it is, therefore, cone-
demi, that the various articles consumed are not
worth less than 1.50.000,0001. and you take into
consideration the • proportion which 100,0001. bears
to that, it mast be allowed, that the pressure o. the
lower orders cannotbe mach. tie confessed. how-
cyer; that it • 'avould fall heavier on arable Farmer.,
that, it would on those who held grazing land ; bin.
in devising taxes to answer the exigencies of a great
and powerful country like this. it was impossible they
should be laid so as to !Mar its an equal degree on
every separate_ and distinct body of men. kle
had, however, made several calculations as to
the different counties, and . the rernh was that
this -tax did not. amount to m‘ire man
or less than three, where the land teas gosh ra
arable, and therefore he Must take the prop," osm.
iastead of 5 to 3, to be ti to 1. that is 2 to 1. 0,
1000th part Tot arable,,and 500 for gnus lend, so
that it cannot• at all meats amount to mote than
a 500th parr of the assnelo cousurned ; and what
,would that be in the general II iduation of the.
market ? Why not more than lid. in quarter in
wheat.• which shewed clearly
.that the 41:ams and
clamours against it are unfounded. Indeed, if we
are obliged to find produdive taxes be thought
it was scarcely possible to produce one that bore
with less pressure upon the lower orders of L:w
people. As to. the other ohjedion of givihg a pre-
ference to the grass over the *arable farmer, wren
will' at the same time to cncoutage the growth
corn, he knew pettedly well how it applied ; he had
given it the most mature cansideration, and I e
could not conceive that it maid by any means 111
that effed which was apprehended. With re g:
to its bearing hard on farmers, he admitted, th... .(L
some instances a tax would tail particularly heavy.
at the first view, on some one class ; but that was
not to be 'avoided. What was the case of the la
tax, the assessment on clerks, book-keepers, 13:sete't
de. of persons in trade? That tie was only esti.
mated at 200,0001. and he believed that in a ''ref
short time it will amount to its full value; and the
tax surely bore more exclusively on trade. than 6;1
does on land. The fad is, we must be content rn
take them as we can, striving always as mu
eh
possible to make them counterbalance each oth.e
5.1
lie had no idea this tax would have any pon•i"
effed on agricolture, and therefore hoped Geese
hien would suffer the Bill to Fogged. in order di