The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-02 00:00:00

WHO PAYS THE TAXES ?

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—English landowners have so frequently asserted .
that it is by them the taxation of the country is chiefly
paid, that some over-confiding persons have, without in-
quiry, credited that assertion, though the whole tenor
of Tory policy, for the last sixty years, has in fact been
to throw the burden of the State on the shoulders of the
middle and lower orders of the people. • Have they (the
Tory landowners) for example, within the period stated,
added one farthing to the amount of the land-tat ? Have
they ever imposed a probate duty on the descent of landed
property similar to that which they have imposed on A
personal ? Have they not, in truth, taken every-oppor- •
tunity of annulling all those taxes winch press eithey on
agriculture or themselves, leaving at the same time every
other burden to be still borne by the middle and.lower • '
classes ? If we examined, furthermore; all those lead- .
tint artie/cs-ofinreornttiotriPnrir which the.4eraiiircref. the --

country is mainly cleriv'ect ;it will be found thit they
are such as are principally consumed by the 4,qhabitants
of the towns, and perhaps more especially still by the
commercial and manufacturing classes. It is thy them,
for example, that the tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, spirits,
and beer, the duties on which form the chief sources of
national revenue, are consumed.
The agricultural classes, on the contrary, live chiefly
on the produce of their own farms, and thus contribute
almost nothing to the public revenue.
It has also been habitual with the advocates of mono-
poly and injustice, while extolling the importance of
the home market to the manufacturing interests, to en-
deavour to make it appear that a chief part of that de-
mand arose from the agricultural population. This hollow
argument has; however, been happily disposed of by one
of speakers at a late Lancashire meeting, who truly
stated that the only demand for manufactured production
from that large body of people, the agricultural la-
bourers, is to the extent of one fustian suit, worth about
31. in the year, with, it might have been added, a Sunday
going suit, once or twice in a life-time.
Such is the boasted agricultural portion of the demand
from the home market, while, on the other hand, it is
assuredly by the commercial and manufacturing classes
that the agricultural produce of the country is chiefly
consumed.
If we analyse likewise the false and deceitful cry of
agricultural taxation, we shall find that the complaining
class has, as nearly as it is possible, in a united commu-
nity specially exempted themselves from it.
Surely no Tory landlord will be found heterodox
enough to call tithes a tax, or to assert that these do not
of right belong to the church—again, few, even of the
Tories, will be found unreasonable enough to deny, that
the burthen of the poor-rates, as well as all the frightful
beggary and destitution which now afflicts the land, is
mainly created, the extravagant price of food, arisingout.
of the landowners' iniquitous monopoly of food. Were;
that monopoly to be entirely done away with, none but th&
helpless and infirm would require parish relief, for should
that blessed period ever arrive, labour would be abundara,
food would be cheap, and the labouring classes of England
would again be blessed with grateful hearts, and a.m.
tented minds.
Father, it is unquestionably the operatirtn of le Corn-
laws, which has driven nearly a hundred thousand Rvitilis
subjects to reside abroad, seeking cheaper food for their
families in the kingdoms of the Continent ; and proba-
bly ten millions of English money are in consequence •
manually carried out of this country. It is well known a
that over the Continent generally there exists no laws,
artfully devised to enhance the value of agricultural pro--
duce. as is the case in England, notwithstanding which
the landowners both in France, Germany, and elsewhere,
contribute, in the form of a land-tax, a very large pro-
portion of the public revenue in each of those States.
soh
In unhappy England, on the con,
traof landowners, hasry
th
long been governed by an oligarchy
land-tax only amounts to a million
and a quarter out a
fifty millions of national revenue.
andgeat rpolitical tend to the 'in-
ttomitiognhotfporuorbatabslyk
bme eco-
nomists would inform the public what proportion
the land-tax bears to the general revenue, in each of the
-asoftemrsu,cihf someuse
other
able to furnish one striking specimen of this descrip-
tion countries of Europe. In the mean time I
rim
for May, which, in an article on Sweden, states from tion of information, derived from the Monthly3fagazina
kingdom in the .
au-
thentic documents, that out of 19,465,970 rix dollars,
which formed the total revenue of that
year 1829, no less than 12,622,621, or two-thirds of 'the
-whole, arose from the land-tax.
When the landowners therefore talk of protection, ,it
should be remembered how they have hitherto evaded
all direct taxation on their property ; that England is
blessed with the best soil in Europe, and that conie-:
quently its agivulture stands in need of no legislative
protection, and further, as the expense of bringing corn
from abroad amounts to 10s. per quarter, that alone is
an ample protection, being about 30 per cent. on its
foreign value.
Though unprincipled selfishness may explain the oppo-
sition which has been offered by Tory landholders to the
Proposals of her Majesty's Ministers, yet how they
happen to have been joined in this opposition by the
shipping interest, is a fact that seems quite inexplicable.
The Ministerial Budget offers to that interest cheap
timber, with which to build their vessels, cheap pro-
visions, and lower wages for their sailors, with a re-
gular carrying trade in corn, and a greatly increased
freightage of sugar, as well as of general merchandise ;
yet all these goo things they indignantly sacrifice at the
shrine of party politics. I am, Sir, &c.
AN ANTI-MONOPOLIST.
Conduit-street, Jane 29, 1841.

GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND

RAILWAY.

Traffic Returns for the Week ending Jane 28 :
Passengers
Merchandise 341 14 6

Darli

;ton, June 30, 1841.

£1,43510 2

e

THE PRINCE OF THE STU
Gazette du Berry states that, on the application of General
Montenegro, the military instructor of the Prince of the As-
turias, eldest son of Don Carlos, the Prince had been per-
mitted to visit the barracks of the 10th Regiment of Artillery,
at Bourges, and was received there with great attention by the
Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel of the staff of the Ihth divi-
sion, the Colonel of the 10th Regiment, &c. When the Prince
arrived the trumpets and band of the regiment played several
airs, and the regiment went through various manoeuvres. After
having witnessed these, and inspected the barracks, the Prince
etrourtaadolzeekrsto the residence of Don Carlos by the above