The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

a scheme imposing a war tax on the nation for
seven years prospectively during a period of pro-
found peace throughout Christendom.. Nothing.
They appear to have been determined from the
first to offer that sacrifice ungrudgingly upon the
altar of the Coalition. And they have endea-
voured to cover the shame of their tergiver: ation
by dignifying their concession with the title of a
sacrifice of gratitude. They maintained that
there were so many good points in the Budget
that the bad might reasonably be overlooked.
Evidence of the most convincing and conclusive
character has been adduced in contradiction to
the presumed sagacity of their argument. But
all to no purpose. We might have exclaimed all
along, like the man in PLAUTUS--
" In pertusum ingerimus dicta dolium 1"

Insisting, as we have done from first to
last, upon
the cruelty of the proposed seven years' Income
Tax—because we consider it to be unjustifiable
from the length of its renewal, and altogether
odious from the inequality of its assessment--we
have spoken upon this subject throughout under
the depressing influence of a deplorable presenti-
ment. A presentiment which has now been
rather speedily, not to say prematurely, fulfilled.
For, according to the division of this morning,
the Ministerial project of an Income Tax of seven
years' duration may be considered as accepted.
Luckily, however, that portion of the Budget
will yet have to be examined in detail under
Committee. Let us hope then that tardily,
but magnanimously, Mr. GLADSTONE may con-
sent to some rational modification. For this
there will be no lack of opportunities. There is
proposition, for example,
Mr. MICHELL'S ingenious
still remaining to be brought under the scrutiny
of the Legislature: that Hon. Gentleman under-
taking to move in the Committee of Ways and
Means, " That for and in respect of any profession,
trade, or vocation, whether the same shall be
respectively exercised in the United Kingdom or
elsewhere, for every twenty shillings of the an-
nual value or amount thereof, above the yearly
profits of one hundred pounds, and under that of
five hundred pounds :

For two years from April 5, 1853 £0 0 5
And for two years from April 5, 1855 0 0 4
And for three years from April 5, 1857 0 0 3"
At least that amendment ought to be favour-
ably entertained, or something at any rate ap-
proaching to the nature of the proposition.
Otherwise—passed in its present form—the Income
Tax levied for seven years without any distinction
whatever being made between fixed and precarious
incomes in the mode of its assessment, will be
the curse of the nation and the disgrace of the
Government. Anything rather than the inflic-
tion as it is now suggested ! Modify this
portion of it, and we shall be prepared to
cry GOD speed to the Budget with the noisiest
of its eulogisers, and to commend, in no stinted
terms, the great administrative genius indisputably
displayed by the Right Hon. WILLIAM E. GLAD-
STONE in the responsible office of her Britannic
MAJESTY'S Chancellor of the Exchequer.

If the Chancellor of the Exchequer persists in
taking the Stamp off Supplements, he is bound,
also, to take it wholly off Advertisements. His
avowed reason for relieving pplements was, that
the Advertising public mig not, through the
limited size of a newspaper, lose the benefit of
the is. which he remits of the present ls. 6d.
duty on each Advertisement. If he is then really
concerned for the public in the matter, it must be

his object that Advertisements should so largely
increase that a vast proportion of the journals
should be in a position to publish them. He
cannot desire that one or two, or half-a-score even
of papers (including some country papers of large
circulation), should pocket nearly the whole profit
of his Supplement remissions ; he would desire
that a host of newspapers in town and country
should find it their interest to give Supplements
from the vast influx of Advertisements. If, in-
deed, the number of Advertisements be not in-
creased twofold or threefold, his proposition
ought to be considered a failure. Now,
it is almost certain that the remission in
question will not have the desired effect. The
object is, of course, to increase the number of the
smaller advertisements. When the charge amounts
to 10s., persons are not frequently deterred from
insertion by a single shilling. It is, however, per-

haN, from about that amount downwards thitho

pressure of the duty acts most injuriously. Per-
sons of every class, from the scullery-maid to the
respectable clerk, wanting employment—apart-
ments wan ted, or to let—single articles, more or
less valuable, which persons wish to sell—parti-
cular qualities of goods to which a tradesman de-
sires to attract attention—and an innumerable
multitude of indescribables—come, for the most
part, under the class on which even the 6d. duty
still left will be a heavy percentage. Indeed,
the mischief is that any reduction merely leaves
the class most desirable to relieve the most heavily
taxed. The two or three lines of the poor servant
still pay as much as an advertisement in which a
ROBINS describes the beauties and advantages of
an estate worth hundreds of thousands.

But, in addition to this, by far the most
profitable mode of 'advertising is repeated adver-
tising. In nothing is it more true than in adver-
tising, that the most efficient mode of doing it, is
doing it well ; the advertisement which meets the
eye repeatedly is sure to be read at last. Occupa-
tion, oversight, listlessness even, and a hundred
causes may cause it to be unattended to at first,
while every reader of a paper has at some time perused
what has oftentimes stared him in the face ; hence
all the most practised in this department, are
rarely, indeed, satisfied with a single advertise-
ment. They make an agreement with the paper
for a certain number of insertions, at intervals,
or in succession, as suits their object. Now it is
obvious at once what a difference any duty, even
a low one, makes in such arrangements. The
printer could, of course, always give his customer
some advantage from having to set up the type but
once ; but he cannot release him from the merci-
less duty; and that, in the case of a poor person, to
whom repeated advertisement might be every way
desirable, would be a very heavy tax. In its
bearing upon the public advantage, and upon the
filling of Supplements too, we are disposed to lay
quite as much stress upon frequent instead of
single insertions of Advertisements as upon ob-
taining them from new quarters. We hope,
therefore, that Mr. GLADSTONE, who has shown
himself already so compliant on the 2i- per Cents.,
and in his Tariff of Licences, will be equally good
humoured about the paltry sixpence still retained
by him on Advertisements.
As to the Supplement Duty, extending the aboli-
tion of it to News Supplements, would, no doubt,
make it a much fairer thing; and we suppose it is
understood that the Hon. Gentleman is " to yield
to pressure" on that point. Still we must main-
tain that the defence of the penny stamp at all is
quite compromised by it. In all fairness there
can be but two elements by which an article con-
veyed by post can be taxed—price or weight. The
latter is the one chosen by the Post-office, for obvi-
ous and proper reasons. Were, indeed, price the re-
gulator of the stamp duty on printed papers, then,
clearly, if a fivepenny newspaper paid a penny stamp,
a penny newspaper ought to be stamped, and go
post free, for one-fifth of a penny. Lord JOHN
and Mr. GLADSTONE would not like the people to
enjoy political knowledge on those terms. Ad-
hering, then, to charge by weight, it certainly ap-
pears the height of absurdity to transmit nearly
six oz. (the weight of the Times with a double
supplement), by post, and to charge as much for a
paper weighing, like The Sun, or the Standard, but
an ounce or two. If it be said that the smaller
paper is welcome to increase its weight too, the
answer is twofold. First, that, for many reasons,
smaller papers will always be as much needed as
larger
ones ; and next, that if newspapers be
charged only Id.foro therrepeated
peate transmission
through the
post, up t
weight of six oz.,
wily should not books and other printed matter be
sent at the same rate? Printed matter, of course,
as in America, ought
writing ; but, as- in that
pay very much less than
at country, there ought to
be some reasonable scale of weights f
well as for the other. Ourtir or th e one as
question is now so far
openedil ly hope is, that the
batch of discreditable taxes 3• that the whole
justly denounced a