The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-12 00:00:00

nAve been InOrd than doubled within the last few
years. A third] parish, adjoining these two and in a
still worse plight than either, has to pay both the
extra expenses of extensive turnpike roads and the
increased rates of a town union ; while a fourth
parish, near at hand, happily for itself, has
no dusty roads within its borders, and does
not write 4.72 us in urbe' as its poor-rate
motto." Mr. Lippincott goes on to chew what a
needless multiplication there is of collectors. Fa?li
tithing has its property-tax collector, whose duty it
is to receive the property-tax returns for his par-
ticular district a thing impracticable in many
instances, seeing that portions of several tithings are
frequently included in a single farm, which is let at
one rent. In every petty tithing two collectors are
appointed to gather the land and assessed taxes. The
fact is, Parliament has invaded the old system of
purely local taxation, but has not made a complete
conquest of it. Consequently, we are now standing
between the old and the new systems, without the
advantages of either. Mr. Lippincott adds : "As
remedial measures for this state of things, let county
be substituted for parochial and union rating—a
corollary to which, by the way, would naturally be
abolition of the law of settlement ; and, that the
rates may be yet more equally distributed, let them
be raised on the principle adopted in the assessment to
property tax ; let paid Government officers be ap-
pointed to collect over enlarged districts the property,
land, and assessed taxesi'in place of the present paro-'
chial and tithing collectors ; and in order that the
occupiers of land may be duly represented in the
administration of the county finances, let a certain
number of their body be elected to take their place
at county financial boards. These changes, what-
ever others may follow, would seem to be but a
needful supplement to what has already been done."
BURDENS ON LAND.
Professor Thorold Rogers, in writing to the
Morning Star respecting the burdens on land,
observes, it is a good sign that the farmers wish to
have some knowledge of the facts relative to the
incidence of local taxation. The interest of the
farmer is the same as that of any other manufacturer
or producer. If a tax is levied on his profits
while the landlord's estate is free, the farmer is just
as much wronged and should be just as much
aggrieved as a trader or a professional man would be.
The landowner is singularly favoured in this country.
In nearly every other a land-tax forms a notable
branch of the revenue. In France the receipts on
this head amount to a tenth of the whole income,
in Belgium to an eighth, in Austria to a third. In
this country the land tax is ludicrously small, and is
more than compensated by the shilling duty on corn.
The landowner on succeeding to his estate is liable to
no probate duty, and pays a succession duty much
lighter than that exacted from the inheritance of
personal property. He is indirectly liable to certain
local rates, but if poor rates were abolished
wages would rise, and the highway tolls preserve the
roads, by which the landowner chiefly benefits. Pro-
fessor Rogers avers that he has never been able to
discover any peculiar burdens on land, while he has
found a host of unfair exemptions and privileges con-
ferred on landowners; and after denouncing the
country squires as the advocates of a selfish social
faction, he expresses a hope that we shall soon see a
thorough change in this branch of our legislation