The National Register.
London, England, 1816-02-25 00:00:00

Our litinn, Coniftitution anb nairti.

No. 425.—V0L. VIII.

-SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1816.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

merely one million of taxes would be borne. It would
allow two or more millions to be supported by the
country, which originally could only bear 500,000 L per
annum.

Thr INcome. TAx a perpetual BURTIIEN ; a Tax of
W An, and not of PEAcE. Its EXIIAUSTINO QUALITY
DEMONSTRATED.

We have put here an-imaginary case ; but it Will be
very easy to make it referable to England in direct
terms ; and we know not that we can do better than to
state from public documents the progress of taxation uml
its burthen in England.

H E Iscome.-I'.x ha►s been considered in our two

last inunbers, in several points of view, which, we be-
lieve, have no where else been sufficiently noticed ; and,
having been present at the Westminster Meet* on
• Friday, we were glad to find that our opiniiiit has circu-
lated widely. One of our arguments was publicly adopted
by SIR Fn %NM.; BURDETT. It was, we eunfiss, but ill
saited to the audience which he addressed, and not well
assorted with that declamatory stile of party vehemence
which he is sure to mix up with all his public speeches.
It was that part in which we have ridiculed the absurdity,
a) happily adopted by his friend in the Morning Chronick,
of a tax to touch the pockets of the miser. In this it
was not to be expected that his audience could feel any
sympathy, wherever else there might be an anxiety Jim
dclending the penuriousness of wealth, which imposes
privations upon itself fin. the benefit of posterity.
Having discussed eahnly the principles of the Property-
Tax, considered us an abatement from the immediate
income of any class of society, and shewn that it is pal-
pably unjust, and that it must lead either to gross par-
tiality, or a system of spies or inquisitions, absolutely in-
consistent, not only with freedom, happiness, and the mo-
rals of Society, but also with that increase of wealth in a
commercial country, which is " the fountain from which
the current of all future taxations flows, or else dries up
we proceed to consider it as connected with the circula-
tion of money, and rate of prices ; bY which we shall see,
that those who ievy a tax of one-tenth, or any other gi-
ven proportion, upon income, seize at one grasp, and for
ever, on just so much, not only of the actual, but of the
future, wealth of the country ; and that having once pos-
sessed themselves of it, they can no longer increase the
amount of taxes, but by augmenting the rate or propor-
tion of the tax.
The whole produce of the land, the value of the Stock,
the income of the 'wide, are rated at different periods
in diffi:rent sums of money ; tun' this iu a state of :ON:me-
'' in), civilization, while the gold-mines of the world shall
be productive, will be increasing partly in real, and
partly in nominal value. If; at one time, the rent of
land is one pound per acre on the average, and at another
it shall he raised to two, it may either happen because

In the year. 1790 Sir Francis Blake petitioned the
House of Commons to be relieved from taxes, upon
charging his landed estates with :36,000/. or such
other sum as might be his proportion of the national
debt, and to pay interest at 4 per cent. upon it. Had
all the other proprietors of land joined in this petition
they would have been wise, and they would be right in
doing it at some future day. But for one to do it is
somewhat absurd. He stated the landed revenue to be
in the year 1600 equal to 6,000,000/. in 1688 equal to
14,000,000!., and in 1796 he calculated it at about
50,000,0001. although the Minister had estimated it ut
25,000,000 f. which is a much nearer calculation, as we
believe the territorial revenue is now stated by the In-
come Tax returns at :i8,000,0001. though we should
have thought it much higher. Now, supposing the
debt to have remained fixed during that time, the bur-
then would have been greatly diminished; and knowing
the population, and the proportionate rate of prices, poli-
tical economists have been enabled to calculate the exact
portions of the burthen upon the people and the increase
of the population. Thus we take an abstract from a
work of mach learning on this important subject*:—

row.—
" Di% iile SUNDAY from the AVeek."—SHARESPEARc•

" To determine the effect-of the decrement of the value of
money and the increase of population on the burthen of taxes,
at all times, the value of money is first to be taken as fixed, to-
gether with the quantity of commodities consumed by the in-
dividual on an average in anv country. This is the yearly ex-
pense of the people per head: which, multiplied by the number
of people, gives the total expense. Leta tax of two shillings
in the pound be laid on that gross sum. Suppose the popula-
tion fig c millions, that it is afterwards increased to seven mil-
linos and a half, the consumption of each individual, and the
total stun collected remaining the same; the charge on each in-
dividual, which was before one-tenth of his income, will he
reduced la the proportion of the to seven and a half, ur ten to
fillet n, the measure becoming one-fifteenth, or Is. ail. in the
pound only. It' the population had become ten millions, the
charge and borthen would each have been reduced to half its
former amount, or to one.ta entieth, that is, to a shilling in the
pound.'•

This is upon the supposition of the burthen being
fixed ; but the amount of taxes could nut remain always
fixed ; for taxes arc either levied by a fixed rate on com-
modities, as 101. per pipe on wine ; or at a per cent-
age or pound rent upon land or commodities according
to their value ; and this will make a considerable ditkr-
ence in our future consideration of the effect of a tax.
If it is calculated at 101. a pipe on wine tin instance, the
tax is increased only by the greater consumption of wine,
and it is greatly diminished by the increase of the price
of wine. For instance, if a pipe cost tiol. and pay 101.
duty, there is one-sixth of the value ; but if it in
price to 1201. it is only one-twelfth; and here we see the
greater advantage of raising taxes by a fixed rate, instead
of ara according to the value of land or commodities.
In the one case, the tax is every day growing lighter ;
in the other, it is every day increasing. By taxing com-
modities in tale, as sat, leather, iron, lead, hemp, hops,
&c. at so much per pound weight, the price inunediately
rises ; and by degrees, all other prices rising, and the value
money t'allE:g, the weight of taxes becomes greatly
diminished. But give an ad ra!oreui duty, and there is
no escapp from the burthen, except by a sudden thll in
th: price, which also sinksi the total amount of the tax,
and oecasions st new,one to be laid on. •
We have now given in detail, and in arithmetical cal-
culations, upon principles which cannot err, the true
source of the means by which we have been enabled to
support a constant increase of hurthens, till of late, when
prices began to tall ; and we have a clue not only to the
' increasing burthen of all taxes by a pound rate, such as
the income-tax, but we may see that it anticipates all
the future galas of the people, and throws them into the
hands of the nnent irrevocably. Experience has
shewn, that the income-tax, by increase of prices, rises
every year, and thus renders the people incapable of
making any new exertion in the time of danger.
We may conclude, therethre, that it is very well adapted
to a state of despotism and ntilitary government, where a
t and continually increasing standing army is to he
kept; but not to a free state, which hopes to have some re-
laxation in peace. Ima.word, it is a grievance from which
• !See Ekmecnei q ( Odeircc
p. 413.

there is an actual increase in the value of the land, and it
produces more commodities, and requires more money to
kir:ld:de the increased quantity of commodities; or else,
because the value of money is depreciated by a mere in-
crease of the quantity of the money, without an increase
in produce. If; also, the population of a country is
increased, which cannot well happen without an increase
its wealth, and, we may almost with certainty say, not
without a great increase in the quantity of the lucre
means of subsistence, which arc derived entirely from agri-
culture, the wealth of the country, and the power of sus-
taining taxation, will, by this means, be increased ; and
from the value of property, and the number of the peo-
ple, we may fhirly estimate at all times the actual pressure
taxes upon the nation. Thus, if the whole value of
the property of a people be at one time Iti millions ster-
H3e. and the tax be 500,0001. with a population of five
min ion peons, it is obvious, that if the property were
increased to :h millions, and the population raised. to ten
minims, taxes to the amount of a million might be levied
with the same facility.
Supposing that in the mean time, while property was
iacreusing in quantity, that is, supposing that as new
head was brought into cultivation; or the old land, by
better farming, was made to produce a greater stock of
provisions, and, consequently, to produce ampler support
fiat an in( reusing population, the quantity of money,
whether of paper or gold, in circulation should also be
increased in the like proportion, the hurthen of taxes
would be greatly reduced. For in Lance, we should
then have to double the first value of I 6,000,000/. by
supposing that two acres were cultivated instead of
one; and if the price of each bushel of corn, or each
article of property, were doubled by the increase of
money in circulation, so as to raise the prices to double
the amount of the former period, then we should have
the whole value quadrupled, and the amount of income
would be 64,000,0001. The population would be
doubled only; for the increase of price in the corn would
be no addition to its power of sustaining bib ; and the
population being ten millions, a greater proportion than

!wry, by John Prince IS:nil/4

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PRICE 9',d•

time gives no relief, it sticks to the people's lxick, like the
shirt of Nessus that destroyed Hercules, and as a matte:-
of state policy, it grasps all present and future wealth, and
tempts the crown to a constant increase of expenditure.
To use homely language, it eats the calf in the cow's belly,
and it kills the goose with the golden egg. It is peculiar-
ly a tax of extravagance, a tax adapted only to a war in
which the existence of a .people is at stake. Wisely,
therefore, :was it promised, that as it was imposed to mi.%
the revolution in France, it should end with it; and
we do hope, that having succeeded in happily placing the
Bourbons on the throne, we may not be burthenod with
it, for the mere purpose of keeping them on it in per..
petuity.
We have supported it during war upon principle; and
with the same view, and upon the same principles, we
hope every loyal man, who wishes to be again prepared for
war when it may be necessary, will now oppose it. 'they
who wish to preserve the crown, will du the best r,ervice
by not exhausting the people.
unDav atuuonnentc

IN furtherance of the intention lately announced to-
our Readers, we propose, in the future numbers of Tun
NATIONAL REGISTER, to give, under the above Title,
some short composition partaking of a Religious Charac-
ter, and possessing some conformity with the style of
reading and thinking recommended for the CHRISTIAN.
SABBATH. Without censuring the publication of a Sun-.
day Newspaper, which we sanction by our practice; we
may be permitted to say, that a short Essay, dedicated
to the subject of RELIGION, would be, in our opinion, an
appropriate addition to its contents; would act as a kind
of qualifying and redeeming ingredient, and,. without.
destroying the general interest of its columns, would
render it more consonant to the wishes of the well-dis-
posed ; and, together with care in the selection of intel-
ligence, would constitute a passport into serious and re-
ligious flunilies. The young and the busy might be
induced to pentse a short portion of a Newspaper, con-
taining sacred instruction, or inculcating useful advios,
while their volatiVsy or avocations might render rheas
averse to look into a religious quarto, and who could not
begin a sermon without lasing reminded of the forma,.
lities of Church service. In acting upon this impression,
we shall avoid being obtrusive in our manner,. or tedious
in our details. No puritanical solemnity will be memo-
mended, no asperity of remark indulged : we shall abstain
from all discussions concerning creeds or confessions ; we
shall neither censure nor support the tenets of airy sect.
Brevity will be most scrupulously observed, and great
variety of subject will be combined with strict tinily of
design, and general tendency. Sometimes we shall ewer.
upon a short crititism of a new religious tract, or volume
of sermons, extracting from them valuable passages
sometimes we shall state, ia a cursory and popular man-
ner, the principal evidences of our religion; at other
times, we shall give a short account of the different
sects into which religious opinions or ceremonies have
divided the world; and, at others again, lay before tl.a
reader a train of moral reflections, a biographical notice.
of a religious cintracter, a religious poem, or any other
composition whose tendency accords with what we hire
in view. In these Essays there will Le no stateliness :it
sob:amity of manner aimed at, no attempt at any thing
recondite, profit:n(l, or' systematic. We mole no pre-
tensions to instruct those who either are already in--
structed, or believe themselves so, in religious matters;.
we despsir of gaining the. attention of the man of busi-
ness, who is employed in examining the hat week's
Casette, to Lind Ids debtor on the list et bankrupts; an&
we Lou no claim to the car of the politician, who is sir
much engaged with settling the aflitirs of Europe, that
he has no time to think of higher' interests ; but to the
young, the inexperenced, sad the doeile, we may con•
vey usetid information, or impart momenta-as advise.
We shall, by the means above-mentioned, remind theft
that SUM') %V is still included in the week; that it brings.
along within its periodical returns appropriate duties ;
and that the communication of secular intelligence should
not prevent the indulgence of those serious ret'ssations
which the remission of secular employment, and the regu-
lar services of the clay, suggest. We shall supply some-
thing which the younger branches of a fami;y.may, rend
to those more advanced, for the mutual benefit of both,
confirmable to the Prayer-book or the Bible, a portion of
which may have come under their review, and camps-
t ilths with the public worship to which the Church invites
them. It is superfluous to say, that, to be of any use,