The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-09 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1854.

It may perhaps be just as well to bear in mind
at this moment the proportion in which the people
of England are taxed when compared with that in
which similar burthens weigh upon the inhabitants
of other countries of Christendom.

A. consideration of this kind may be just as
Well, we mean, all things considered, now that a
aeries of extraordinary war taxes are about to be
once more levied upon our population. Mr.
"GLAnsrosrE's Financial Statement of last evening
renders somewhat advisable, we conceive, this
direct allusion to the relative financial position of
the different Powers, so far at least as that posi-
tinn can be indicated by the distribution of the
national debts, for each individual in the
resPective populations. For the proposition now
laid before Parliament by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer is no longer restricted to the
1:/lere doubling of the Income Tax for one half-
lrear----it has been elaborated into a succession of
l'rePoaals in every respect much more remarkable.
It iuTe Ives the necessity of raising, not 3,250,0001.
over au d above the ordinary amount of the national
l'evenu(s in six months—by a simultaneous increase
and extension of this obnoxious tax upon Incomes
_`but
1i of providing, by means of this tax, an ad-
-27i°11 to. that amount every successive half-year,
long MS the war continues—or, in other words,
an addit ion to the Revenue by Income Tax every
/eat rOf from 6,000,000/. to 7,000,000/. Beyond
which ti aenewßudget—not the soft-spoken Budget
ofi the fith of. March, or the moderate one of the
i ol' April, but the daring and almost despe-
rate 011 s of the Bth of May—requires the imposi-
tion of no less than three supplementary war-bur-
tthuens cif a rather notable character. The first of
ego) an increase of the spirit duty by is. per
rile% in Scotland, and by Bd. in Ireland—yield-
-45;0,000/. additional. The second, a re-
adjustment of the sugar duties—bringing in
7o0,0(", )01. additional. The third, an increase of
t" tar dt tax from 2s 9d., or rather from 2s. Bid.
and a small fraction, to 4s. per bushel—giving a
11,11111 )f not less than 2,450,0001. additional.
-eutoge ither, an increase of the annual taxation to
the ti me of about 10,000,0001. When Mr.
GLAD: STONE has gone down to the House of
Come eons on the Bth of May, with this bold and
comp! i.ehensive proposition—having but ill pre-
pared the country for his new scheme, by his
financial statement of the 6th of March, and his
suppler nentary Budget of the 11th of April—it
does ap pear to us reasonable that, for a few momonts
at least,, the attention of the country should be
directed, to the proportion in which, throughout
the different countries of Christendom, the na-
tional debt of each is distributed among the vari-
ous populations.
Refer Ling to an impartial authority, an ingeni-
eba financial work by Bony:AI-BR, we find that
this distribution among individuals relatively
rn the chief countries of the earth, is some-
What remarkable. BODEMER calculates, of course,
14 German dollars, but the proportions are
equally startling when viewed according to
anY system of calculation. The highest and
the lowest named in this extraordinary
tabular statement are Holland and Nor-
Way —Norway, where it is as a pressure
of only 3 dollars, and Holland, where it is actu-
ally ,
as an incubus of 220 dollars per individual .
11hese Powers, however, being exceptionally placed,
rie turn for information to the proportion revealed
by those countries which are arranged intermedi-
ately.
And, curiously enough, we find England
at the very top, and Russia at the very bottom,
of the list—Russia the least heavily, and
England the most heavily burthened, in
Proportion to the aggregate amount of the po-
pulation! We find the National Debt of Russia
Weighing as by nearly 8 dollars, and the National
Debt of England weighing as by no less than
187 dollars per individual. Ascending the scale,
We find the 8 dollars as in regard to Russia, in-
creased to 10 dollars in Prussia, to 13 dollars (on
the average) in the United States of North
America, to 14 dollars in Naples, to 19 in Aus-
tria, to 28 in Sardinia, to 33 in Portugal, to 38
in Belgium, to 40 in Denmark, to the
same
Iranat in Frances and to 54 dollars in Spain,