The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-29 00:00:00

A DIALOGUE ON THE IA COME TAX.

The arguments in this pamphlet are so conclusive as
to the unequal working of the income tax, as regards in-
come and property, that we republish it, fully conscious
that it will convince any (if there be any) who may have
hitherto entertained doubts on the subject. We remind
those who may wish to have it in a more convenient
form to go to Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange.
SCENE—An apartment in Downing-street, with blue
books, writing materials, papers, and red tape. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer is discovered, absorbed in
anxious thought.
Enters, rising from the ground, the Spirit of Cocker.
Spirit of Cooker—What meddlesome medium bas sum-
moned me from my resting-place?
Chancellor of the Exchequer—Forgive, illustrious shade,
the unwarrantable intrusion upon your--
Sp.—Speak, I pray you, with brevity—my time is short,
at cock-crow I depart ; speak also in sincerity, we deal not
in soft sawder in the spirit-world. Who are you? What
do you want with me ?
Ch. of Ex.—l am the Chancellor of her Majesty's Exche-
.

quer, an office of peculiar difficulty and—
Sp. (aside, and interjectively).—Bosh !
Ch. of Ex.—And, knowing well the kindness of your
heart—

--- -
Sp. (impatiently).—Spirits have no hearts ; confine your-
self to facts, and avoid metaphor. Feelings I possess—do
not trifle with the.n.
Ch. of Ex.—l humbly crave pardon. I was about to
say that, being aware of the kindliness of your disposition,
I thought you might be willing to assist me in a difficulty
which oppresses me greatly, and I took the liberty of call-
ing you from the region of shades to solicit a word of your
invaluable counsel.
Sp.—You have my works ; I left them for the guidance
of such as you.
Ch. of. Ex.—l think I have a copy in my library of your
invaluable work on the Science of } igures.

Sp.—Don't attempt any deception: You may possess a
copy of my great work, but it is clear you have never con-
sulted it. It would have been more respectful had you
done so before disturbing my repose. What is it you
want ?

Ch. of Ex.—l was desirous, sir, of consulting you con
corning the " unreasoning impatience of fixation ' on the
part of many who have raised an outcry against the con-
tinuance of the property and income tax.
Sp. (angrily). —No such tax exists.
Ch. of Ex.—Pardon me, respected shade of departed
arithmetical accuracy, if I presume to question—
Sp.—Read me the title of the Act of Parliament.
Ch. of Ex. (taking up act from table, reads).—" An Act
for granting to her Majesty Duties on Profits arising from
Property, Professions, Trades, and Offices, until," .S.:c.*
Sp.—A tax is granted to her Majesty upon certain pro-
fits ; certainly not upon property, as you very well know.
Ch. of Ex.—l stand corrected; but wo call it a pro-
perty and income tax.
Sp.—l care not what you call it ; you may throw dust
in the public eyes, but you cannot in mine—spirits have
none.
Ch. of Ex.—But, sir, "what's in a name ? a rose," you
know, "by any other name will smell as sweet."
Sp.—You will never make your tax sweet, call it by what
name you will ; it stinks in the public nostrils. But let
that pass; only we will, if you please, call it by its right
name, "a Tax on Profits."
Ch. of Ex.—But is it not in fact a property tax ?
sp.—No, sir. Is your brain property. Is ingenuity
property ? Professional skill, literary excellence, plodding
well•directed industry, are these property ?
Ch. of Ex.—No, sir, not in a commercial sense; but we
tax property also.
Sp.—You do, tho profits arising from property, but very
gingerly. You lay burthens, heavy and grievous to be
borne, en the profits of industry, but property hardly
touches them with one of its fingers.
Ch. of Ex.—Will you explain to me how the Property
and In—l mean, tax on Profits does this ?
Sp.—Listen, then, and I will instruct you. The Income
Tax, as you call it, is a masterpiece of statecraft, originally
invented by the late William Pitt ; it is a contrivance of
surpassing ingenuity for extracting the largest possible pro-
portion of money from the pockets of the industrious and
intelligent creators of wealth, in order that a proportionate
immunity from taxation may be enjoyed by the possessors
of wealth ; it is a tax upon the working bees of the social
hive for the relief of the drones. The deep ingenuity of
the contrivance consists of two things ' • first, the artfulness
by which it deludes its victims into the belief that
they are taxed equally or proportionately with other
classes of society ; and, secondly, the facility with
which it extracts the money from the pockets of
various classes in precisely the inverse ratio of the
amount of property possessed. In these respects I can
only compare it to a bat which travellers wrote of in my
day as infesting some southern climes, which lightly fanned

* 5 & 6 Vict,, cap. 35.