The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-31 00:00:00

EVENING, JULY 31, 1852,

tively on the person in possession and on the reversinner;
as well as the amount of the rerersioner's share of !he
tax allowed to accumulate until he receives the first
rent. In the case of jointures and lif3 annuities charge -
able on the rents of an estate. the owner of the es at- is
the revaraioner 6f the lifa anunitant; and the tabl7
affords a ready rac-lins. of determining the uniform de-
duction to oe made ir.oui the annuity, at any rate of
for::
pvirostituhgthse pvrioepwe rot
fy :oai xn,g
1.32,,,,t.d0n thst raay ba imposed by Parliament. Your
Committee cJwiders that iu all castes of kint owner-
ship the owners should be lth to adjust their claims
among themselves, on certain settled principles, and on
tables such as those given in, to be attached to the Act
ing legacies. as is done in the Act tax-
tisfaction, your Committee recommends that the public
justice and of giving sa-
siawnhnhcodoilmdi
id'ecsbi' still
the right to apply to a competent cffi:!er for his advice
their claims, and have
complicAtion that neces-
sarily arise under any system of taxation on industrial
ionsBlisnletdh in
tlesasecijaus:fing
:or on property hesoludnhtryy.th eAco
cmopulrict,at,c• clmte,
iniutirnegs
of
rcompetent
to
adjudicate,tia, might also be appointed by the
C
in cases of disputed assessments,
between the assessors,collectors, surveyors, and tax-
payers cegaged in professions and trades; or whore the
tax is charged on real
property, between the several
owners of that property,

EXEMPTIONS FROM TAXATION.
Is. That your Committee have given much consider-
ation to the exemptions that aro or may be allowed in
the assessment of a properev,. tax. 'Upon! general
principles, no valid reasons can be shown why any con-
siderable part of the property of the country, whether
productive, or in the form called by some ueproductive,
should be exempted from taxation; as the effect of such
exemptions is to throw an undue share of the public
burdens upon the owners of property in another form,
rbe only limit
should, in the opinion of your Committee, be the diffi-
culty or expense of the taxation on realised property
of assessment and collection;: the
policy of exempting pictures and articles for improve.
went of art being kept in view. As regards industrial
incomes many witnesses recommend that the tax should
not, under the present mixed system of direct and in-
direct taxation, in any
case descend lower than to in-
comes of a certain amount. Your Committee advise that
the tax on industrial incomes should not descend below
501.; and to render the tax equitable, that 5001. should
324 from the income be deducted from the capitalised value of every industrial
income,which
would be equivalent to deducting about
clues of lives.
19. Your Committee, in conducting these inquiries,
of each of the younger or better
has had to assume that the tax is to be a permanent
Part of the taxation of the country. The evidence of
the witnesses, and the modifications by which the tax
may be levied more equitably, proceed upon that as-
sumption. The tax was imposed in a depressed state of
the revenue, after other taxes had failed; upon one hand,
as a temporary measure to cease in three years; on the
other, in the words of the Minister by whom it was
proposed,
" to lay the foundation for a jester principle of
texation," as well as to enable him to make great altera-
tion in the duties on imports and excise. The results
of the policy which was then adopted, and has since
been continued by Parliament, prove that a large direct
tax can be collected with less expense than an indirect
tax; and the increase of the revenue, from 52,315 439/.
in 1841,
to 57,401,0111. in 1851, leaves no doubt that it
interferes less with the trade and industry of the people
than the Excise and Customs duties, for which it was
substituted. It appears further to your Committee to
be of the greatest importance, with a view to the future
equitable taxation of the country, that Parliament
should, in the first instance, decide whether a property
tax is or is not to be permanently levied.
Your Committee is convinced that the income-tax, in
its present form of inequality, cannot be made a per-
manent tax. The inquiry establishes the truth of the
Public judgment on its injustice. It leaves no doubt, at
the same time, that a tax assessed on the value of all the
property, and on the capitalised industrial incomes of
the Population, would be, in theory and in practice,
more equitable than the present taxes. A tax exclu-
tiveiy on the rent of laud, on the rent of houtet, on
wages, or on any single class of property, as well as a
general tax on all properties in no constant proportion
to their value, depresses prices and alters exchangeable
values. It produces a depreciation of the taxed pro-
perty, and is, in fact, as far as the inequality goes, a
confiscation. A partial, or en unequal, or uncertain tax,
unsettles the security of property, and paralyses indus-
try. If, under the pretence of convenience in collection,
or of difficulty in assessing the tax equitably, 3 per
cent, is taken from the interest of capital in one form,
and 14 per cent. from the interest of capital in another
form, and nothing at all from the interest of capital in
a third form, it will diffuse a general sense of insecurity
in the minds of all persons possessing property, as no
one can foresee how far a system which violates the
principle of equitable taxation may be carried.
The progress of financial, as well as of other branches
of knowledge, has been great since the income-tax was
imposed by Mr. Pitt; and Parliament, in imposing
taxes, is bound to take this progress and the progress of
public opinion into account; hence your Committee con-
, sider, that whatever may be thought of the revival of
the income-tax, in all its old-forms of inequality and in-
justice, in 1842, the time has come, after the experience
of ten years, for making it more equitable.
It is not the office of your Committee to enter into
administrative details; but that the assessment and levy
of a just tax on property is practicable, and that such
an approach to a correct sates, Anent can be made as
would be more satisfactory to the country than the pre-
sent tax, your Committee, after directiu4 c oisideralle
time to the inquiry, unhesitatingly assert; end no tree-
ble or efferte to render the system of taxation equitable
can be too great for the sake of justice.
Your Committee submit, finally, that the taxation of
this country is nut betel on any intelligible principle;
and that it becomes more and more apparent every year,
especially if the proper.y.tax is to be a permanent tax,
that, the whole of the
present system of taxation must
be revised; that the be tax, the- tax most easily levied,
offering the fewest obstacles in the collection, and the
least likely to encourage evasion and fraud, will be
found to be an equal tax on the realized and industrial
property of the United Kingdom.
Draft of resolution (Mr. Sotheron) brought up and
read 0:—
That no method has been suggested of capitalizing in-
come
to its principle and in its application.
i,h
That
bi
ti c
ahp ispe
an
ro Pen
st
too
to some grave objections, both
this Committee impossible to die-
cover an elastic rule, variable according to the nature of
each kind of income, which would produce a strictly
equitable result; and it is therefore better to lay aside
repugnant to
permanent source of public revenue, in some manner
not
yt
moral
o of
suchs
mathematical
attempt,
a
to with the tax, if it is to be
Melia feeling to impose the same
tax upon incomes derived from permanent realized
property, enjoyed without exertion or risk, and incomes
derived from trades, professions, and salaries, which are
to both.
subject
This Committee
.therefore think Parliament should
adopt some mite which will be an approximation only to
Alton and
exact prop • , they think the average relation of
schedule D
ratlecoi;
to the other schedules should be put as 3 to
4; so that incomes under that schedule should be as-
sessedthree-four:us of
at the amount levied upon all
other kinds of property.
Draft resolution (Colonel Routilly) brought up and
read 10 :--- .
That your Commtttee have especially directed their
attention to a consideration of the question contained in
" Whether any other mode of
levying the in
cable and Property-tax, so as to render the
tax more equitante,.can be adopted."
That your Committee have heard valuable evidence on
bteyeintdoirbecatindis
taitolife--it
this part of the Inquiry, but
their attention being di-
rectedh fact that n
to the ot more than about one-twelfth
their order of reference,
part of the gross taxation of the country is raised by
means of the income,ee and Property.tax, and to the °O-
ther taxes existing it is necessary to consider
nions expressed by Mr. at
of those taxes, and that those taxes fall
—ill in his evidence, that " when
Iwthhieethriencaitirdeeneoheuech greater proportion of pressure on the
financial system
smaller incomes than oa the larger incomes, and that the
justice of any one
.tax can only
be estimated as part of
the general
which might be unjust_ if it were the only tax-might be
of the country, because that
compensation fee tthe other inequalities in the
a just
general
orbudn es
sbe forte
gather e
es;ith
the
taxes, and because the articles which are taxed
consumed in larger proportions
asthan lk ff
t i osne sa
ofre b
..y
bins the correctnessttvi . L
- 10.1 appears to your Commit-
tee to your Commit-
the richer claeses —opi-
tee, therefore, that; tbey, cannot express an opinion
which would be on this
part of the inquiry,
Without hearing evidence on the incidence of the re-
mainingbee of texation " • •
bran() • , and considering the re-
mit ee doubt whether their order of
by the pooretarxcal
branches- on the various classes
spective bearing o
of the community• . t
to
reference entitles them proceed to enter on this in-
, and they tnereeere confine themselves to report-
quiry,
which they have
jug the evidence ,Ttese. taken on this branch
That your Coin
of the subject to the House,
word I-hat 'in elide
e question Motion made an. e proposed,
t by the Chairman
report proposed
d (Mr. Disr •be now read 2a."
Ameedment propose , "10, To leave out all
the words after the
siderati'
words: '
taking into consideration the importance of the
an early subject submitted to th k;
the prospecte'e"Thattto
insert
the
these
before the House, and
of opinion proroga-
tion, this Committee is .
aled that there is not suffi-
cient time for discussing
.. Preparing a report that
could do justice to this complicated subject, and they
report the evidence therefore agree to
rePHouse.'" Question
taken and the
proceedings to
the
left out stand icin, " That the
words proposed to bepart of the question,"
put and negatived.
Words inserted.
Disraeli), " That, taking
Resolved (Mr, into consi-
deration sub •
co of the subject m
deration the importansubmitted to the
ofthe state of business
the House and
prorogation. this
the prospect of an early
suffiCient time Committee is
of opinion that there is not
Committee, the state
for discussing
t that could do justice to this
and preparing a mend'
therefore agree to cotu-
plicated subject, and they
to
the
House."
the
proceedings
evidence taken and the
resolution,,
Ordered, e Tea; this
ort:d
fur her minutes of evidence, be le p to the House."
To report.

chloethevas:P inuias
-------
PUNISFIING A RLFRACToIIY VOTE:H.—Oar Iciihine
correspondent writes:—" An , Id man named Connor Scanlan
was making; his way on Thursday to Tulle, to vote for Van_
deleur ; after refusing to go with the people, he was met at
Newtown, outside Killaloe, by a lot of women, who stripped
him of every stitch he wore butt 4ttheitswhiayst.
hAisftgehrolmats,hainngd
Jahn wiih nettles for a time, they hung
high tree, and let him proceed across a mountain to Gar.
ranboy,. a distance of two
two and dauz,liter, o❑ seeing him . approach.. locked the
miles, :ing naked i'
1 as s
door, and commenced roaring
that he must have been murdered on the road."--Limerick
.Examiner.