The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-19 00:00:00

taxes; he only wanted them to say that they would take
the matter into consideration. There had been a talk of
taking 30 per cent, from the fundbolders ; but there would
have been no need of that, if they who had so lona had
the benefit of these unjust laws had been pressed to PaY
up their arrears of taxes. If any„,Noble Lord or Hon.
Baronet had e.caped paying. taxes, that in thirty years
amounted to 60,0001., the people bad suffered from that ;
for the Government had borrowed that amount of money,
which they need not have done if the taxes had been fairly
levied on the Noble Lord or the tinn. Baronet.—(Hear.)
The Hon. Member concluded by moving,—
" That, by the Act of Parliament, passed on the 11th of
July, 1815, being c. 184, of the 55th of George the Third, im-
posing certain duties on stamps, amounting annually, in the
aggregate, to upwards of seven millions a year, the utmost care
has been taken to exempt the nobility and great landed pro-
prietors from bearing any but a very small share of the bur-
den ; and, further, to make the tax heavier and heavier, in
proportion to the smallness of the amount of the property on
which it is levied; so that each tax goes on, pressing heavier
and heavier, from the very rich down to the very poor, as will
clearly appear by a reference to the letter of the said Act.
" That, by this Act, various duties of legacies, and on pro.
perty coining by intestate successions, are imposed, applicable
to the different degrees of relationship between the legatees
and the successors and the deceased, beginning at one per cent.
and going on to ten per cent. ; but that, from these duties all
freehold property is wholly exempt; and that therefore from
this tax, which is, on an average, about three per cent. on all
other property in the kingdom left by will, or coming by intes-
tate succession, the estates of the nobility and landed gentry
,including the advowsons and lay tithes) are exempted, while
the father, the mother, the child, of the fundholder, the trades-
man, the farmer, or other person bequeathing personal pro-
perty, has one per cent, to pay on the amount of the legacy
or intestate succession; while a brother who has had a thousand
pounds left him by a brother has thirty pounds to pay in this
duty, and while a distant relation of the deceased has, on a
legacy of the same amount, to pay one hundred pounds.
" That in regard to probates of wills and letters of administra-
tion, if the deceased leave property above the value of twenty
pounds, his successors have to pay a stamp duty of ten shil-
lings ; that is to say, at the rate of two pounds per cent. on the
value of the property ; but that, if the party dying leave by will
any sum from thirty thousand to five hundred thousand
pounds, the duty is only one pound ten shillings per cent.,
and that, in this case again, all freehold property is exempted.
" That, in case of conveyances of all sorts, the duty upon a
thing of five pounds value, or on any thing under twenty pounds
value, is ten shillings, and the duty upon a thing of two hun-
dred thousand pounds value is a thousand pounds ; so that in
the latter case it may be less than ten shillings per cent. on the
value of the thing conveyed ; and in the former case it
is two hundred shillings per cent. on the value
of the thing conveyed, and thus, in this case, the poor
man pays twenty times as much tax as the rich man on pre-
cisely the same sort of property, and under the same Act of
Parliament ; and that, as the Act will show, the weight of the
duty goes on increasing from ten shillings per cent. to 200
shillings per cent., exactly in the proportion that the value of
the property becomes smaller and smaller in amount.
" That, in the case of leases of lands, tenements, &c., where
the yearly rent is five pounds, the stamp duty is one pound, or
twenty per cent., but where the yearly rent is a thousand
pounds, or any sum above that, the stamp duty is ten pounds,
or one per.,cent. ; and that this tax goes on, from four hundred
a year rental to five pounds a year rental, getting heavier and
heavier, but increasing in the small rentals in a most dispropor-
tionate degree,

" That, in the case of mortgages, bonds, and securities of
every description, if the amount of the mortgage, for instance,
be twenty-five pounds, the amount of the stamp is one pound,
or eight shillings per cent. ; but, if the amount of the mortgage
he twenty thousand rounds, the amount of the stamp is twenty
pounds, or two shillings pet cent. ; that, in this case, the poor
man pays forty times as much tax as the rich man ; and that
the stamp is no more if the amount of the mortgage be a hun-
dred thousand pounds; so that, in a case like this, the poor
man pays two hundred times as much tax as the rich man ;
and that, in this case also, the tax goes on increasing in weight
as the taxed person becomes poor.
" That, in the case of annuities, if the annuity be ten pounds
or under, the amount of the stamp is one pound ; and that, in
due proportion, an annuity of two thousand pounds ought to
pay a stamp duty of two hundred pounds, but, instead of that,
it pays a stamp duty of only twenty-five pounds ; and if the
annuity be for ten thousand pounds or any greater amount, it
still pays a stamp duty of only twenty-five pounds ; so that here
the poor man pays forty or fifty times as much tax as the rich ;
and that, in this case also, the tax goes on, getting heavier and
heavier as the parties become more and more poor.
" That, in the case of promissory notes and bills of exchange
not exceeding two months after date, if the sum be forty shil-
lings or above forty shillings and not exceeding five pounds five
shillings, the stamp is one shilling. and, in the same proportion,
the stamp on three thousand pounds ought to be twenty-eight
pounds eleven shillings, but that it only pays fifteen shillings ;
that, for any higher sum, if for ten thousand pounds, the stamp
is no more than one pound five shillings, instead of being
ninety-five pounds four shillings ; and that, therefore, in the
former case, while the poor man pays nearly one pound per cent.,
the rich man pays sixpence per cent., and in the latter case,
while the poor man pays nearly one pound per cent., the rich
man pays only threepence per cent. ; and that, therefore, in
the first case the poor man pays forty times as much as
the rich man, and i❑ the latter case nearly eighty times as
much as the rich man ; and here, as in all the former cases, the
tax becomes heavier and heavier as the tax-payer becomes
poorer and poorer; and that in bills of a longer date than two
months the partiality is still greater, and weighs still more heavily
on the needy man.
" That, in the case of insurance of lives, where the sum in-
sured amounts to less than five hundred pounds, the stamp
amounts to one pound; that if it amount to five hundred pounds
the stamp is two pounds; that if it amount to five thousand
pounds or upwards the stamp is five pounds ; so that the man
who insures ten thousand pounds pays only one shilling per cent.
while he who insures for less than five hundred pounds, and
suppose that to be three hundred pounds, pays six shillings and
eightpence ; and thus the man of scanty means pays nearly seven
times as much as the man of wealth.

" That, in the case of receipts, if the sum be two pounds the
stamp is twopence, if the sum be a thousand pounds the stamp
is ten shillings, when, in due proportion, it ought to be eight
pounds six shillings and eightpence ; that thus the poor man
pays more than sixteen times as much tax as the rich man; and
if the sum go on increasing to a hundred thousand pounds, or a
million, still the stamp is only ten shillings ; and that, for any
sum expressed to be in full of all demands, whether it be for
two pounds or for a million of money, the stamp is always ten
shillings ; so that in this case it may be fairly said that the poor
man pays a thousand times as much tax as the rich.
" That, in the case of appraisements, not exceeding the value
of fifty pounds in the value of the thing appraised, the stamp is
two and sixpence; that if the thing appraised amount in value
to five hundred pounds the stamp is fifteen shillings; but if the
thing appraised exceed five hundred pounds in value, though it
amount to a million of money, or more, the stamp is but one
pound ; so that here the tax falls almost wholly on persons in the
middle rank of life ; and the estates of the nobility and landed
gentry are all nearly exempted; that an estate in value of a
hundred thousand pounds ought to pay an appraisement stamp
of two hundred and fifty pounds, instead of the one pound
which it now pays ; so that here the people of the middle rank
of life pay, in many cases, two hundred and fifty times as much
as the rich.

" That, with regard to apprenticeships, the parents of a poor
boy, who give no premium at all with him, have two pounds to
pay for the indentures and the counterpart; that in this case,
however, where there are no persons but tradesmen concerned,
the stamp duty goes on gradually and fairly from thirty pounds
to a thousand pounds, a premium under thirty pounds paying
one pound stamp, and a thousand pounds paying sixty pounds;
because, in this case, the nobility, clergy, and landed gentry, are
not concerned; and here we observe that, while the poor boy's
parents are thus taxed, the duties or settlements made by the
rich pay only a twenty.five shilling stamp on a thousand pounds.

- -
" That there is a total exemption from this stamp-tax for all
bonds, contracts, mortgages, conveyances, deeds, and instru-
ments, for making provision for building, repairing, or purchas.
ing houses, or other buildings, for the beneficed clergy in their
benefices.

" That, by several Acts of Parliament, ending with 55Geo. 111.,
e. It:, which Acts impose duties on things sold by auction, a
duty of sevenpence in the pound is imposed in Great Britain
on the amount of the sale of any interest in possession or rever-
sion, in any freehold, customary, copyhold, or leasehold lands,
tenements, houses or hereditaments, and any share or shares
in the capital or joint stock of any corporation or chartered
company, and of any annuities or sums of money charged there-
on, and of any ships and vessels, and of any reversionary interest
in the public funds, or of any plate or jewels ; but that, on all
sales of furniture, fixtures, pictures, books, horses, and carriages,
and all other goods and chattels whatever, there is a duty of one
shilling in the pound ; while on wool, sold for the benefit of the
landowner or his tenant, or the first purchasers, the duty is only
twopence in the pound; and that from this duty all sales of
goods distrained for rent or tithes, and all sales of leases of land
or tenements, and all sales of woods, coppices, cattle, live or
dead stock, and all unmanufactured produce of land, and of all
produce of mines, when the sales are made on the lands, or at
the mines, are wholly exempted, as well as all the produce of
quarries, or of implements used in quarries, mines, or farms :
and that thus, while every product of the hand of man has to
bear this tax in almost a double degree, compared with the
lands and tenements themselves, the produce of the land bears
no part of this tax, which is thus shifted from the shoulders of
the great and the rich, and made to fall almost exclusively on
the middle and working classes of society.

" That, on the first day of March next, this House will take
into its consideration the nature, tendency, and effects of the
several Acts of Parliament which impose taxes on stamps, and
on things sold by auction."
Dr. BALDWIN seconded the motion.

Lord ALTHORP said that the cases alluded to by the
lion. Member for Oldham as cases of inequality in the
stamp laws and the duty on auctions, arose in some mea-
sure from the stamp duties being divided into different
classes ; so that the proportion of one duty to another was
not so accurately usarked as it might have been. He ad-
mitted thnt when the property came to equal a large
amount, the stamp duty was not so high as it would have
been if the rate of increase from the lowest sums had been
regularly continued. They were regular to a certain ex-
tent. The Honourable Gentleman would find that in
every case of taxation, for instance in the assessed taxes,
when the amount became considerable, the per tentage on