The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-25 00:00:00

TILE INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX.
There is no doubt that the correct principle of
taxation is, that every one should contribute to the
yearly expenditure of the country in a fixed propor-
tion to the amount of property in his possession
during that year. That is the position very correctly
laid down by Mr. William Parr, in his evidence,
just published, before the Select Committee on the
Income and Property Tax. A moment's reflection
will be sufficient to show that it is in the highest
degree unjust to exact the same sum in the way of
taxation from two men, one of whom derives an
income from an estate in fee or from money in the
funds, and the other whose income is a profes-
sional one or a short annuity. Let the tax be levied
on the value of the property, no matter what that
property may be—land in fee or for a term of years,
houses, a post in Somerset-house or in the Treasury,
skill in healing human disorders,
or in playing on the
fiddle. We care not from what source the value may
proceed, so it is value. Let each man contribute in pro-
portion to the amount of that value in his possession.
Now, what better test of the value of property can
he taken than the price it will fetch in market overt
It is easy enough to ascertain the value of each man's
interest in real and personal estate ; •it is also a suffi-
of any
ciently simple task to determine the capitalised value
income derived from skill or industry. As
the best illustration of cur meaning, and at the same
time as the severest comment upon the present iniqui-
tous method of levying the income-tax, we would
submit the following
figures to the consideration of
our readers. They will serve to show the sums for
which such annuities rents, estates, and securities as
are there set forth would sell. It is really difficult
to see, with such calculations as the following before
us, why we should not all be taxed according to our
real, and not our imaginary means. We COPY
the assessment from the reported proceedings of
the Select Committee on the Income and Property
Tax :

X.
" A has 10001. a year in Long Annuities ... 6,875
" B has 1,0001. a year in Consols at par 33,333
" C has 1,0001. a year from land worth 30
years' purchase
.. 30,000
D has 1,0001, a year from land, during his
life ... 16,667
" E has the reversion of rents, of 4000/. a
year, after the death of D 16,666
" F has houses returning, in current rents,
1,0001. a year 16,000"
A professional income is, probably, much inferior in
value even to the lowest interest in the above assess-
ment. As is very properly stated in the report of the
Committee, the highest possible point at which an
income of this sort can be estimated is to place it
among life annuities. As we all know it is, in point
of fact, something much inferior. There are the
contingencies of ill health and fashion. The fashion-
able physician of to-day is the nobody of to-morrow.
The barrister who has sunk a considerable capital in
subsistence, education, and protracted preparation for
his profession, and had already begun to realise some
fruits from all his anxieties, toil, and self-denial, finds
himself suddenly thrown back upon the world, not
from any fault of his own, but because changes have
been introduced into the administration of the law.
Then there must be taken into account the deductions
made for life insurance, and other similar provisions
against sickness and death. How can any assessment
be fair and equitable which not only'strikes at the
realized property of two men, but then proceeds
to levy a further toll upon the transitory income
of one, while the other goes free for the simple
reason that he has none which can be affected
by such an impost ? Dr. Chambers or Sir Benjamin
Brodie buy lands and estates like their neigh-
bours, and are subjected to similar taxation in every
respect. The same thing happens if they invest in
the funds. Their investments are realized values.
Any 11. they receive from their patients is a simple
11. ; nothing more. Any 11. from their landed es-
tate or from the funds represents 30/. besides itself,
and yet seven-pence in the pound is deducted from
each. Seven-pence is deducted from the 31/,, and
seven-pence from the 11.; and this is justice !
What we have said of course applies strictly to
professional incomes, but it will also bear upon all
incomes derived from trade, manufactures, and com-
merce. First, the capital invested must make a suit-
able return ; then in good years an insurance must
be paid against bad years ; then the merchant or
manufacturer is entitled to wages for his own solici-
tude and superintendence ; then he must insure
against the dropping in of his own life ; finally, there
is the net profit from the business, whatever that may
be. The Chancellors of the Exchequer, however from
Mr. Pitt's time downwards, have refused to
take notice of this analysis of an income.
They consider the unstable and transitory income
we have just described to be precisely identical
with that of the landowner or fundholder. No
allowance is made for the vicissitudes of commerce in
the case of the mercantile man, any more than the
changes of fashion or the failure of health in the case
of his professional fellow taxpayer. All must dance
according to the same tune, and march in the same
step, whether Mr. Pitt or Sir Robert Peel, Sir Chas.
Wood or Mr. Disraeli, be the fiscal fugleman. As it
was in the year 1798, so it is in the year 1852 ; but
so will it not be much longer. The anomalies we
have named, which constitute indeed the gross and
crying iniquity of the tax according to its present
method of assessment, are not the only ones which
might be signalised. We see it set forth in the very
interesting evidence given before this Committee, that
the whole of the tax is paid by about 350,000 persons,
and that if the operation of the tax descended
to annual incomes of 501,, there would be four
times as many taxpayers. Thus, every taxpayer
pays not only for himself but for three others,
which is an arrangement of much the same cha-
racter as the one proposed during the sharp pinch
of the Irish famine —namely, that every
family should be required to receive English_gratuitously,
of course—two Irishmen as parlour boarders. It is
bad enough to have to Pay taxes for oneself, but
it is cruel to have to pay for others. The minority
is fleeced that the majority may go free. We will
venture, at this point, to quote a few lines from the
report :—" The farmers Occupying large farms pay
their own tax and also the tax that the farmers on
rents of 2991. a-year or less in England, and 4191.
a-year or less in Scotland, ought to pay-
The person.
S
taxed, while the owner of 1491. a-year from
who has 140/. a-year from a trade or I
profession
land or
money in the funds is exempt; the landowners of
England and Scotland, in fact, pay for the protection
of the property of the landowners of Ireland, who are
resident there or on the continent."
If there be any thing which could add to our.
aggravation in the midst of this injustice, it
the"
the full conviction that to wish sincerely for
remedy is to discover it. We find that a very
simple method of assessment has been
by a number of competent actuaries, and Mist
re-
ceived the approbation of the committee.
that the tax should be assessed .g at one
uniform
the
rate upon all kinds of property—that is,
upon
which
present capitalized value of industrial inconiesli exter-
are called inherent property, as well as on a
I Even Mr.
nal property, whether personal or rea •
discursive
John Mill, who takes a somewhat more. proposed,
admits into his
view of the question, inasmuch as he
account not only the comparative means
wants, and who
contri-
butors but also their comparative
'n demanding
holds that equality of taxation consists
enjoy-
from all contributors an equal sacrifice of their
permanent
enjoy-
ments is driven to admit that he would 35.
taTerent scale.
and temporary incomes according to a
argument
demi' Ithe
There is not, in point of fact, a singlet which is
against an equalization of the assesselerl
worth a moment's attention, except
the
r of this sort,
providing a suitable remedy. In a matte
-re Europe stood
we care not if all the philosopher's 1
0_
t intellect to
against us. It needs no great stretch
under-
perceive that the income-tax, As at, presenta
h worst class,
stood, is a graduated property-tax of t another word
and a graduated property-tax
is
-1f
revolutionary
for spoliation—it is the last resort 0
d bankruptcy.
difficulty of
finance when revolution is on the eve

Extract from a letter, dated C
MONT BLANC.
and Tuesday were so very fine that t prognosticatedlemenre-
hamouni, August 19:—
rather
" An unsuccessful attempt to ascend Mont Blanca was
Pared for the ascent. The guide°
taad°
yesterday by a party of five travellers. The wea-
ther
a
has been generally very unfavourable, but Monday
any-
thing but
chap.
su The party, however, would not attend to their
advice, but insisted on starting about ten o'clock yester•
day morning. About three o'clock in the afternoon it
anything like
.?ino on to rain. They crossed the Glaciers des
_atleachesp
zoissons in safety, end reached the Grands Mulets
about half-past five o'clock. Here they passed a
miserable
the storms.
ramn sa.
night, and returned this morning in
a crestfallen procession, reaching the village
about noon. Chamouni is crowded with visitors, and the
greatest difficulty is experienced in getting
tourists have
a bed. The weather has been, at the same time, any-
Several of the bridges boo been carried away by the
lheaa
ss a
becoment . Th
very
eroad
dangerous between f
rtohme village
torrents, regular carriage communication has been re-
peatedly stopped, and the nerves of the lady
been put to some very serious trials. A char-e•banc
Wag overturned last week near Les Ouches, in conse-
quence of the road having been cut up by a torrent, and
rune Young lady was much hurt; but the people still con-
tinue to pour in, and the Sardinian Government has re-
organized all the guides under the old regulations, broken
in 1848:, -

Sirt GEORGE GREY.---The working men in the
.............---__ __
principal towns in the county of Northumberland are collect-
thg Penny subscriptions for the purchase of a suitable testi-
monial to be presented to Sir George Grey, as a mark of
their regard to his high personal character, and political in-
tegrity, The Right non. Baronet is at present upon a visit to
Lord Panmure in the north ; and we believe that his present
intentions are, not to offer himself as a candidate for Parlia-
mentary honours, but to seek the quiet of the country, and
in all likelihood to make a tour on the Continent, for the
establishment of his health, which is not strong.—Leeds
Mercurs;