The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-28 00:00:00

WINDOW TAXES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I should feel particularly obliged (and no
doubt others similarly situated, too) if you, or any of
your readers informed upon the subject, could give me
information respecting what windows, or other lights,
are exempt from legal assessment ; and also what kind
of division constitutes a partition between glass, so as
come under the class of separate windows or lights.
Does the law (I can't help smiling) require a certain
thickness only of frame, in order that a large window
may not be mistaken for two ?
I have always understood that places of business
were totally exempt. But I happen to occupy a very
large house, and there being two shops, I let one ; so
that 1 am charged with duty on the shop window, glass-
door, and fan-light, because I do not occupy it myself.
Thus a small shop is charged with three windows. I
hope, for the sake of the public at large, that the As-
sessors will adhere universally to this mode of charge ;
and then, as a consequence, the light of heaven will be
shut out from a very great number of places, at pre-
sent unconsciously blessed with it. Several rooms of
my house having four windows, I can easily spare two
from each ; and then, instead of 101. or 121., my share
for the pure light of the sun will be reduced to at least
one half from the next year, should I get no redress
for the present.
I would throw out, by way of suggestion to the Gas
Companies, that it would be worth their while to invent
some method for purifying their gas still more, as they
are likely to be more generally patronised, should our
good Governors not be able to give us a cheaper sup-
ply.—Your constant reader,
October 26.

W. R.

[We cannot possibly venture to give an opinion on
the difficulty started by our Correspondent. Perhaps
some Tax Collector, or Commissioner of Taxes, or
lawyer, will clear upthe point.—En. Sun.]

FUNDHOLDERS! WE CAN'T PAY
YOU AND THE LANDLORD'S TAX TOO.

We have over and over again proved that the bread
tax costs the people more than all the State taxes to-
gether. The landlords do not, it is true, get all the
money that is taken out of the pockets of the people ;
a great deal of it is wasted. But mark, Fundholders
the landlord's tax and the waste must all be paid be-
fore you get one farthing. People will buy bread be-
fore they buy sugar, tea, or coffee. What wonder then,
Messrs. Fundholders, if after the landlords are allowed
to take their share (i. e. all they choose), there should
be too little left for you ? You are told that the Corn-
law is necessary to enable us to bear the burden of the
National Debt ; many of you have been weak enough
to allow yourselves to be deceived with this argument ;
you have been so foolish as to believe that you can
enjoy a partnership with the landlords, and most of
you have been quiet spectators of the iniquitous ope-
ration of the Corn-law. Well, the last two years have
witnessed a rise in rents and a decline of the revenue—
are you satisfied ? If you wait another quarter, you
will have still further proof that the nation cannot pay
you and the landlord's tax too.
There is a falling off in the revenue at the rate of
half a million a quarter. Yet our population has been
increasing as fast as ever ; from forty to fifty millions
sterling have been laid out in railroads ; there has been
a great activity in our dockyards and arsenals ; and
almost all our mills and large manufacturing establish-
ments have been working full time.
But then, on the other hand, the rate of wages for
skilled labour has been reduced from ten to twenty per
cent. ; and unskilled labour has almost reached its mi-
nimum price. The people still toil on, and the capita-
lists still export their cheapened productions, but with
a constantly diminishing reward for employer and la-
bourer, and, need it be added, with a less amount of
taxed commodities consequently consumed by both.
When the Anti-Corn-law Deputies waited upon the
Chancellor of the Exchequer last spring, and warned
him of the danger in which the revenue was placed

from the effects dale Corn-law upon the commerce of the
country, he heard them apparently with unmoved con-
fidence. Doubtless he was then revolving in his mind
his project for increasing the income by putting an
additional five per cent. upon all existing taxes. His
plan has now been tried, .and. there is a greater defi-
ciency than ever. The landlords have so around the
faces of the poor, that there is nothing left for the
Chancellor but the dry cheek bone. After the expe-
rience of one more financial quarter, the Right Hon.
Gentlema❑ will be in excellent heart for joining bodily
the Anti-Corn-law agitation.
But, Fundholders ! one more word with you with re-
ference to the argument that the Corn-law enables the
nation to pay )our dividends. Look at Ireland. There
is a country that is especially benefited, if any part of
the kingdom be, by the bread tax. What proportion
of your dividends are paid by Ireland? Look at the
returns of the revenue ; (it is an affair that deeply con-
cerns you and your children ;) see what a fraction of the
income of the State is derived from the potatoe-fed
millions of Ireland. But if you get little from that
country, others get much. Would you know the
amount of the tax paid to the landlords of Ireland ;
compare the enormous rents in that wretched country
with the rents paid in England, and you will find that
the landlords levy even a heavier bread tax upon the
Irish than the English. Does not this prove that the
landlords and you are at opposite ends of the sausage,
and that the more that is swallowed by them the less
there must be left for you ? Again we say, Fund-
holders ! the nation cannot pay the landlord's tax and
you too.—Anti-Corn-law Circular.