The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-23 00:00:00

z

DIRECT 2',IXATION.

For the first time in the history of this country, it
has become necessary for the Government to levy
direct taxes, on a scale of gigantic magnitude.
Besides the revenue from taxes upon imports, the
Government requires at least one hundred millions
of dollars a-year to be raised by direct taxation.
To enable the country to realise this vast amount,
everything taxable should be taxed. All profes-
sions, all incomes, all real estate, all personal pro-
perty, should be taxed within due limits, but
to an extent hitherto unprecedented on this
side the Atlantic. The Government may not
find it necessary to levy such minute and exorbi-
tant taxes as those of England, where, according
to Sidney Smith, people have been taxed upon
every conceivable necessity, comfort, convenience,
and luxury, from the cradle to the grave ; where
the schoolboy whips a taxed top; where the youth
rides a taxed horso over a taxed road ; where the
old man is medicined with taxed drugs, makes his
will upon taxed paper, dies on a taxed bed, and is
buried in a taxed coffin ; but still, as the remedy is
necessary and unavoidable, we hope that the Go-
vernment will make it strong enough to be com-
pletely efficacious. Receipt stamps, window lights,
gold watches, books, newspapers and newspaper
advertisements,horses and carriages, lottery dealers,
grogshops, banks, insurance companies, incorpora-
tions, brokers' stalls—everything and everybody
taxable should be taxed. Those who can afford to
drive or ride fine horses about the Central Park
should be made to pay HO dole. a year for each
animal and the privilege. Those who can afford to
keep cats and dogs should pay a dollar per head for
the enjoyment. Those who can afford to carry
watches, and be independent of the City-hall clock,
should
pwa:aftoirt
their conveniences.
is To say that the
people will pay these taxes is but saying that they
w
impossible to avoid. To say that
they will pay these taxes cheerfully
l d o
s and willingly
is but to say that they love their country, that they
are grateful for past immunities, benefits, and
bl •
esslngs derived from their country, and that they
desire to have their
tuated. We should be grateful that the Govern-
ment affords every man an opportunity to do some-
thing for his country—to make sacrifices, to sub-
mit to deprivations for his country's sake. The
country has never asked any such thing before.
Direct taxation now affords every stay-at-home
patriot a chance to be a hero. It will do all of us
good to be obliged to pay cash down for our privi-
leges. It will teach us to prize, to appreciate. to enjoy,
to cherish them more. We shall learn to guard tht m
better from corrupt politicians and swindling lob-
byists, who sow the seeds of treason. Ballots will
seem more valuable after we have fairly paid for the
balls and bullets which careless, wrong, or neglected
votes have rendered necessary. The rebels are
learning to appreciate the preciousness of a good
and free government by the sacrifices they have to
endure in their insane effort to destroy the Union.
We will learn precisely the same
lesson by the sacri-
fices we shall be obliged to endure to preserve the
Union. North and South we shall have better
13 better Americans, and better
country, better men, a
country, when the war is over and peace again
brings plenty.—.Neta York Herald.
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