The National Register.
London, England, 1816-02-18 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQUISITION. Tax on income, we may be asseired, is prineitrally a
• • direct WI upon the rent of land. To make it of
Porereirkes of POLITICAL ECONOMY applied ai A . TES? upon commercial income is impossible, unlee every man's
fio. Me P?opriely of A TAX on INCOME. . books are inspected by the Government, and every trades-
,
, man and manufacturer converted into a mere receiver
IN our ken we considered the I roperty-tax in rela- , ,
take fur Government. As a tax upon land, and interest of
tien twits innueliate influence. • We have now to tom
money or flouted property, it may he fully, and fairly,
a 'view of it upon prineiples of politieul economy, at. 3
and easily collected. As a tax upon commercial gains, it
considering it us a permanent syetein of revenue. On
can never be fully collected, even with all the ingenuity
this subjecte we must claim u I* Ile the attention of our
of ego i ton
end
as,,s.,,sen. It. it
were
se,
readers, while we uttmupt 14/ ras briefly "il " it erould be a tax upon commercial espital, a tax upon
clearly as we can, sonic principles and data with rest industry, a tax upon the productive energies, upon the
eo taxation, the revenge, and public as well as private
vier vita!, or vital power of the industrious class of society,
wealth, which we believe are not generally known, or by whom alone, public and private revenue is created,
with the truth of which the public at large are not suf- .and private wealth accumulated. Here again we have
ficiently impressed.
another proof of the ultimate tendency of all taxation to
It has been for a long time a question among financiers
bear upon the rent of laud, and permanent revenue. For
anti political economists, out of what source taxes are the source of all income is industry : if then the tax talus
actaally raised ; whether they bear ultimately upon the from the amount of that which is necessary to the support
land alone, or are _fairly divided between all parties in of the industrious; or to their accumulation, by which
the :eanrannity, and paid out of commercial anti menu-
new capital for improvements is raised', it takes just so
fiteturing hulastry. To resolve this question fully and
muchfimu what would be the increase of rent ultimately
accnretely, it, is necessary to go somewhat profinindly
to be added by it to the sources of permanent revenue.
into the nature of the different sources of revenue and of The quantity of tuxes, then, that a nation will actually
wealth, which in a weekly register of politics would be bear without injury, is just so much as can be spared front
impossible. We shall endeavour to avoid this ; but must the permanent sources of' revenue. These, as fin- as they
briefly premise, that all income or revenue must be de- are Where
is must .be left to their present possessors.
lived either from the rent of land, timn interest of lint there is a surplus which may thirly be raised by tax-
money, the profits of trade, or the wages of labour.
ation ; and which, being taken from the rents and un-
Ultimately, however, it will be kind, that profits accu- productive sources of the revenue of the people, L. no di-
ululated, and interest to be. continued for any length of • minution of the means of increasing wealth. This is
time, will be converted into the rent of land. W ealth
the excess which the . wealthy devote to luxury, ana
itself consists of permanent and eonstimalde things. The which, if taken from then by takation, is afterwards dis-
pennanent are land, houses, and reiehineee ; the con..
triboted among the people by the expenditure of Govern-
imitable, live-stock, raw produce, and manufactured aid meat. Wealth thus is made to circulate. The means of
men:mild goods.
the rich are lessened, but others employed by the Govern-
Rent, interest, profits, wages of labour, may be con- meat are supported and enriched, and property is only
sidered as the titles by which each man's claim to these made to change hatols. We now speak of such cxpen-
various articles, as they annually arise and are consumed,
diture as is confined to domestic employment, and which
may be ascertained : for the mass of the whole people certainly does return anon z the people from whom it has
must divide the whole wealth, or growing produce, and been raised; and if raised wholly or principally from the
esise;naa ct,mmoditics, together wit' the houses maul laud wealthy, theluxuriotee and the idle is still caPondedsmon
of the nation, according to some g.. en proportion, which the industrious and productive part of the esnnuunity.
may be estimated by the whale value of rent and inte- In the hands of the
rich, it would be employed in luxuries;
rest, and the whole amount of pinks of trade, of wages,
in the hands of Government, it is made to supply the lux-
und of labour. These various items, therefore, we will
uries of a Court, the multiplied combinations of systematic
consider .as pot for the whole community ; and any warfare, and the influence which alone gives power and
charge uplift the wealth of the whole community must
stability to the Government, which could have no exist-
be tlistrileseed, among them according to these propor-
ence if it did not thus divide the people among them-
time, as they exist at any given time.
selves; and, raisin °. from the many the means of its sup-
• Supixtee any portion of this wealth to be raised from
port, arm and col:line the few to unite in ruling over
among 9',
ai
people,
however it mayay be raised, it must them. Absolute power is a phantom. of the imagine-
ultimately lie stronace so as to bear upon tue perms- tion ; real power is the union of the Government and its
nent, and not the actual or present wealth, for the time
dependents, who raise from the people the very means which,
being, of the eonnuunity. If it is raised by taxing land,
distributed among themselves, engender, combine, and
houses, and the interest of molten, this is a direct tax on
peril etaate their ascendancy. Power therefore, to be even
permanent inct»ne, and is a mere tranefer of the perma-
despotic, must be, divided among numbers against still
vent property limn its present possessors, to sonic other greater numbers, from whom the sums which are indivi-
persons to whom it is distributed by the hands of Go..
dually raised are too small to excite serious diseoutent.
vent:tient, through the medium of their expenditure. There is, however, a limit to this system of taxation; since,
If it be raised directly on commodities, they must be
if the influence of the Government be extended among
taxed in money, or seized in specie, which is nearly the
too great a number, those who remain umnet equal to
same thing, and the dealer in the commodities raises the
prices of them according to the tax. By this mean's, the their support.We have hitherto considered taxation in the abstract,with-
tlcaler himself entirely avoids the berthen of the tax.
out regard to the operation of money, or circulating
Wme-
, ere the peels arbitrarily seized in specie. the effectdium, dium,in which taxes are raised rani paid, anti in which
would be nearly tile same; for traders generally purchase
the wealth and means of the people are estimated. To
epos credit, and to rein the trader is to ruin the credi-
understund the complieated system of mtrlern finance,
tor and the capital jet ; atrial' which, in the general insolveo-
anti the moe in.whic taxer. ire utd with respect
cy ofall classes of the comniiinity. is, we lichevO, very clearly
to their hurtdhen upon h the peeple, diitstr isib neceessary to have
pew( ived at the moment in which we arc 111:W writin
i;* sonic clenr idens upon this subject.
liaise /nonce and levy taxes in a way, wa, it will, we •We have • already eetabliebed some fixed notions and
believe, ultimately fall upon the rent of laid, houses, and
irrefrassable data concerning the reed wealth of the pen-
machinery, although for a time it may be borne rather
pie, anti the sowers firm which it is raised, as well as the
severely Inv the traders anti manuti:eturent. We are means by which it is diitributed. Before we can eluci-
ourselves, indeed, fully convinced that a perpetual charge
date clearly the effect Of any particular xystem of taxa-
can only be paid by a perpetual fund, such as the law ton
tinn, we must briefly trace the nature of the medium in
England dueignates by the term real estate. The national which it is erdettlettel. This will lead us to a short ac-
debt will theretitre be found a mere charge upon the count of the efiLvt of money, whether in paper or in
national rents.- 'Faxes levied in one year, may bear upon
metal, noon the revenue of the State and people ; and we
the industry of the country; and the rent of land, indeed, fnd, that we mist neoesearily reserve this for a future
is the result of the industry of the country. Bat indus- et,,,,iy. We crave the indulgence of our readers
try is at all times kept at its full stretch, according to the
the- week; nod we trust we shall then be enabled tt,
I habits, and nature of property, at any given
them the Innecal influence of all taxation of income.
. epoeli of time. Diminish industry, and wealth is 'Biel-
cannot explain ourselves further at present : we ha'
rished; lessen the rewards of industry, and the excite-
ready said. that if a tax on income were not unitise,'
'• Trent being gone, the activity and pnwers of life, so to ruinouseuri oppressive, we must support it even
falook, winch are neeessery to the maintenance of the
and we Bite to convince them at data, that the .
natioual industry, are desteoyal The mereenn then, that sere, an, i just systrat of notation, is the taxation
an:.. system of taxation lea:ins to press severely upon this modities. in doing this, we attack no party, '
cisr' that moment national iTrialle is diminished, because no personal animosity—. , - . orm merely the
fildoetry becOntes either palsied or barren. aud' re ve
ilue • Lave undertaken,
. '"•-7 in
-,-,.,. times of
and taxation U.
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-.6 girt of public instruction which ought to be de.
mended of a free press, and which constitutes its sole
utility. We have devoted our pages to free, calm, and •
unprejudiced inquiry.. We wish to speak of measures,
rather than of men; and we trust, that our readers will'
not place the leis' confidence in our advice, because it is
given with the calmness which becomes truth, and the
firmness which bespeaks sincerity.
ebe ROCtiirat 41VOtlitOt.'
NUMBER 1.
SALUS POPULT 9UCSCNA Err irx.
A NIONG the most prominent traits which characteriie
the present state of society in this country, we may reckon;
as not the least advantageous, that universal love of me—
dical reading, which reigns amongst all orders of people..
The desire of obtaining information on a subject so impor-
tant to mankind in general, and so interesting to every
individual, as the preservation of 'health, is at once both
natural and laudable, and deserves rather to be cultivated.
and encouraged than discountenanced and suppressed. At.
the same tinie, it is no lacy essential that this active proper.-
shy should not be suffered to prevail without being guid-
ed into a proper and useful direction, and that an ade-
quate supply of salutary materials be atfonled for its due
employment. Various, however, and great are the
culties which stand in the way of accomplishing so desira-
ble an object. No study, indeed, is so fenced ite with
technicalities, or dependent on so many auxiliary sciences.
as that of medicine; nor can it be successfully practised as .
an art, but by him who, to years of preparatory study, shall.
have added the fruits of long personal experience. Ana-•
toniy, Physiology, Botany, Chemistry, the laws of organic
life, and the r.:ciprocal action of mind and body upon each.
other, must be familiar to who would detect the
latent. nature of the numerous diseases afflicting the hu—
man frame, and apply remedies for their removal. So -
extensive a study, and such exclusive attention to one ob.. •
jest, however important, can hardly be supposed.compati-
ble ••-ith. the ordinary - of the generality of r-

the grmeml reader, and thus become the common property
of society at large. A series of such truths, comprising
the fund mental principles of mediall science, it would be
highly advantageous to diffuse among the generality, of
people; while the practical adaptation of these general
principles to the particular cireunvkawes of individual
diseases, would be most successfully directed by those
whose peculiar education, and exclusive devotion to the
science as a profession, more immediately qualify them,
for the office. Such a general knowledge of medicine; as
that which I now sulvocate, would enable hint who pos-
sessed it, to discriminate between the ignorant pretender
andthe real man, of science; would protect him tom 'the
artifices of illiterate and designing empirics, anti become.
at once a safeguard to his person and his purse.
It is a lamentable fact, that even in the present enlight--
ened state of the public mind, medical empiricism should
stalk abroad with such unblushing front, and that so many
should tall victims to the unprincipled impositions suflired.
to pass in this country with impunity. No more certain.
cheek could be given to this evil, nor a more ready. stop In-
put to its extensive prevalence, than by constituting the
elementary principles of medical science a part of gene-.
rid ethicatiou, and thus teaching the well-informed youth..
lo subject the prete.usion of the .empiric to the scrutiny
of rational exaMination. A generation must pass.awny,.
before the good etfacts of .such a plan could he fully reit--
fired: in the mean time, impressed with a conviction,.
that much good might arise from a more general diffusion
of medicel opinions, grounded on extensive exrriotee,
. . .
and supported

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ble with. the ordinary pursuits of the generality of per-
sons, and hence an argument has been adduced against
the utility of all popular me.lical reading. This
went, however, is more specious than solid, and allypes.
.
rather to the detail than the principle A simple dirt ~4
important truth, the result of years of laborious resc.u.ch,.
or the f)rtunate discovery of some diligent enquirer, may
.i •
be communicated in. lang,uage easily comprehended by

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nature nt the medium in and mpported by scientific principles, I purpose to Ads.•
viii lead us to a short ac- mit from time to time fir public consideration, throng%
whether in paper or in ilte medium of this paper, a statement of the prey ,-,.i. Tf"-iiN
Stat 3 and people ; and we disuses of the metropolis, actomponied by such obse - `
resavc this for a future tion,; as may appear best calculated to lead to the' adop • ...(14114.:,` ,) )
tee of our readers for aim- of those general me'sur..s of prevention or removal, w . .
~.....; at
dl then be enabled to spew /
it is in ate power of every oike to pursue, and thus to co, • ,
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ll taxation of income. We tribute, e., much as is in my power, to the diminution , - /or
rat present : we have al,- individual distress, and Cue pmmotion of the general w ' •
ue were not unpist,partiai, ;fare.
That the task might easily have fallen into ... 1
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a support it even in peace; able boards, I will readily allow; but the silence of • .. \t...,.,..,
although better qualified, on so interetting a torie,, coat. A...'111.
at lag, that the only true,
is the taxation of cum- forta no justi.icatign for withholding my int:able radar,-
owl no party, gve gratifY Yours; whilst, however improper and unsuccessful say. -,e,:530--
.xform merely the task we be my attempt, in zeal
and good iateutions I
lama
oss,
in times of ailcult•Y' luetasuly give place to any one.
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