The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-16 00:00:00

DECEMBER l6, 1850.

THE INCOME-TAX.
TO THE E.DITOI? OF THE SUN:
Slll,—Some remarks which have recently appeared
in The Sun on the unerpnil and inconsistent operation
of the income-tax have Itd me to believe that you
will not be unwilling to call the attention of your
readers to the injustice inflicted by that ill-advised
impost on a numerous class of the community, whose
peculiar position, and, generally, narrow circum-
stances, might have claimed the protection of the
Legislature against excessive taxation. I therefore
propose, with your permission, to exhibit in your
columns a slight illustration of the oppressive bearing
of that tax on all life annuitants, and more especially
on those who have invested their capital on annuities
at a late period of life.

A widow, aged GO, sinks her jointure of 1,5001. on
an annuity of 1501. Her capital, invented in Con-
sols, at 96, would have produced an annual income
of 461. 17s. Gd., or, in other words, that sum re-
presents the annual value of her capital in perpetuity.
The duty on that sum (if exacted fr.= her)
would have been 1/. 7s. 4d. She is now compelled
to pay the tax on an income of 1501., or 41. 7s. 64.
a year.
A professional man, or artist, at the age of 70, in-
capable of further exertion, invests his capital of 9751,
the savings of a. long and laborious life, on an annuity
of 1501. His capital, invested in Consols at 96,
would have given him an annual income of 301. 9s. 4d.,
the duty on which would have been 17s. 93. He is
compelled to pay the tax on an income of 1501., or
41. 7f. W. a year.
A worn-out servant of a mercantile firm, bank, or
public company retires, at the age of 70, on a pension
of 1501., the value of which (even supposing it to be
secured to him for life) is 61 years' purchase, or
975/. lie is also compelled to pay the tax on an in-
come of 1501., or 41 7s. Gd. a year.
A capital of 4,8001., invested in Consols at 96, pro-
duces a clear profit income of 1501., the duty on
which is 4/. 7s. Gd. Thus we see that

Income in Annual Per Cent. on
Capital. Perpetuity. Tax. Capital.
£4,800, producing £l5O 0 0, pays £4 7 6, or is. 9d. per ct.
1,500, worth 46 17 0 „ 476, or ss. 10d. „
975, „ 30 9 4 „ 4 7'6, or Bs. llid. „
and that, by a strange perversity in legislation, those
individuals whose necessities impel them to the most
rapid consumption of their capital, are taxed in a ratio
increasing with the degree of their necessities.
The annual payments on a life annuity are simply
repayments (with interest added) by instalments,
according to the stipulations of a contract, of capital
received from, or on behalf of, the annuitant, the in-
stalments including a larger or smaller portion of the
capital advanced, according to the age of the annui-
tant at the time of making the contract ; for instance,
the present value of an annuity on the life of a per-
son aged 90 is considerably less than two years' pur-
chase, and a person of that age would purchase an
annuity of 150/. for about 2631. He would receive
back at each annual instalment more than half
the amount of capital invested. His original capital
being 2631, he would have to pay the tax on an in-
come of 150/., or 41. 7s. Gd., which is exactly equal
to 11. 13s. 3d. per cent. per annum on his whole in-
come, the tax on capital invested in the funds being
one shilling and ninepence per cent. per annum.
Will any one undertake to give an intelligible ex-
position of the principles on which such a system of
taxation is based ? If the measure of taxation be not
the wealth and substance of the individual to be taxed,
but the amount of money that may come into his pos-
session, by any means, from any source, or by any dis-
tribution he may make of his capital, within certain
given periods, and if the instrument of such a system
of extortion is the use of an ambiguous term, a
quibble cn the compound word income, then, really,
it would puzzle a philosopher to distinguish between
such an off-hand mode of raising revenue and arbi-
trary confiscation.
And what is the excuse or pretence set up, in the
nineteenth century, for a system (or rather a prac-
tice) that would have disgraced the middle ages ?
" The difficulty of adjusting the details of a plan of
direct taxation,;so as to meet exactly all the various con-
ditions of property and income." Exactly ! Why the
Chancellor of the Exchequer made no attempt at any,
the slightest approximation towards the solution of
the problem of equitable adjustment; professing his
inability to untie the knot, he gallantly cut it with
his sword of state.

The Parliament consented to raise revenue by a
blindfold scramble, and the humble and powerless
classes were condemned to pay the penalty of the igno-
rance, indolence, or dishonesty of the Legislature.
But the pretence of difficulty is an imposture.
Tables, showing the value of life annuities at all ages,
and at various rates of interest, may be purchased for
half-a-crown, and it would not cost the State 500/. to
furnish every assessor in the United Kingdoms with
such tables, duly authenticated, applicable to the cir-
cumstances of every annuitant, and showing also the
rate at which the duty would be equitably charge-
able, either on the sum annually received, or on the
value of the annuity ; indeed the Chancellor of the
Exchequer must have been suffering under a total
dereliction of memory when he alleged the difficuly
of so simple an operation in defence of his crude and
sweeping measure ; for the Government was not only
in possession of annuity tables calculated by its own
officers, but was in the constant practice of applying
those tables, in the commutation of pensions—that
is, in the payment of a present sum of money to the
pensioner as an equivalent for the annual payments.
By the ambidextrous policy of the Finance Minis-
ter the tables are held to be valid in making a
hard bargain with a pensioner, but, when excessive
taxes are to: be squeezed out of classes of the
community destitute of political influence, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer ignores mathematics.
The equitable adjustment of the income-tax—so
far, at least, as annuitants are concerned—instead of
being impracticable or difficult, is proved to be the
easiest and most simple operation that can be ima-
gined. To carry it into effect nothing is required but
honesty of purpose. It is imperatively called for by
morality and good faith, and the operation may be
performed with mathematical precision.
But the barbarous injustice of the income-tax, as
it presses on the means of subsistenCe of the aged an-
nuitant, does not require mathematical demonstration.
Wile capitalist, who can live on his profits, may spend
his whole annual receipts without anxiety for the
future ; he has a fund destined to the support o f his
family, who will be provided for however suddenly
he may be taken from them. The annuitant is,
generally, and the pensioner, invariably, far ad-
vanced in years—the only hope either can have of saving
those most dear to him from absolute destitution, is
in the small saving he can make from his annual re-
ceipts. But here his parsimony is frustrated by the
tax-collector, who takes the bread out of the mouths
of his children.

We have a theory of " equality before the law ;"
and a doctrine has long been held and propounded by
W higs and Tories—that " every man, in a free state,
is bound to contribute towards the exigencies of the
state, according to his means—his wealth—his stake
in the country." The doctrine is implied in the
theory, but has it been enunciated, with a mental re-
servation in favour of predominant interests ?
has it, in fine, any relation with realities ? or is
it a mere political clap-trap employed by party
leaders, to flatter our insular conceit, or propitiate
the ignorant impatience of taxation ?
These questions, in connexion with the foregoing
facts, are submitted, in the hope that a satisfactory
answer may be elicited from some one more conver-
sant with the more abstruse departments of political
science than Your obedient servant,
AN OLD ANNUITANT.
London, Dec. 12, 1850.

FINE HANDS.—We do not know a corporeal dis-
tinction which the exquisite covets more than a small white
hand, a member which will tit easily into a lady's glove, and
may be exhibited upon a snowy cambric handkerchief, with-
out its colour suffering by the contrast. To many, as well as
to the late Lord Byron, such a hand is a distinctive mark of
" gentle," or, as we should rather say, "genteel" blood. We
confess that this is a feeling with which we have never sym-
pathised. The bronze band, with its power of muscle, and
its swelling veins, is to us a far more gratifying object, for it
tells of exertion, and society holds o❑ to civilization by its
stalwart grasp, far more securely than the most aristocratic
fingers would enable us to do. We are all the more inclined
to preserve this feeling, after reading a paper lately contri-
buted by Mr. NVilsoa to the British Association, upon the
ancient Iberian population of the British Isles. That gentle-
man stated that from an examination of the sword-hilts of
' those warrior hunters of old it was evident that they must
have had very small hands—much smaller than the men of
the present day. The Danes too, and the Vikings—the sea-
robbers—the maurauders and pirates of ages ago were die-
tinguished by the same peculiarity ; their massive swords
scarcely furnish room within the guard for the delicate grasp
of a lady's taper fingers, while the Saxons, the workersof the
earth, are marked by the large hand of the labourer. The
small hand is the representative of luxurious uselessness, the
large hand of earnest toil ; and, just as the small-handed
warriors of old vanished before the sturdy continuous energy
of the large-handed Teutons, will idle beauty pass away
before the truth of industry, and the labour of the large-
handed will at once support and rule the world.—.E.liza Cook's
Journal.

We some time since alluded to the intended sale in
the extensive ware-rooms of Messrs. Cook and Co., 246 and
2 IS, Regent,kitreet, preparatory to the alterations in their
establishment for the approaching year. Since our remarks
were written, the sale has in good earnest commenced, and
we may safely ask the attention of our fair readers to the
opportunity it affords them. The attendance is very great,
and whether purchasers are attracted by the beauty of the
goods offered, or the bond fide character of their disposal by
the proprietors, the demand has been incessant ; in fact, the,
ware-rooms have been turned, we might almost say, into a
soq, of afternoon lounge for our fashionable folk. 'i Le deco-
rations which are in preparation, under the care of Messrs.
Cook's architect, will, we have no doubt, place this fine suite
of apartments amongst the most attractive in the \Vest-end
during the next season. And we cannot help congratulating
these gentlemen upon the novelty of the idea, and the spirit
in which they purpose carrying it into effect. An emporium
for the sale of prize specimens of art during the next year is
indeed a happy. thought ; and we look forward to the col-
lection with large hopes that it will prove a most agreeable
amusement even for those who, like ourselves,' are more
admirers than purchasers of such rare property.—cuurt
Journal.