The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-03 00:00:00

MINORITY—NOES, 113.
Aglionby, H. A. Dundas, Frederick Osborne, Ralph
Bannerman, A. Ebringbn, Viscount Paget, Colot,el
Barclay, David Ellis, Wynn Paget, Lord A.
Barnard, E. G. Evans, William Peellell, Captain
Bellew, R. M. Ewart,:William Philips, Mark
Berkeley, H. F. Ferrand, W. B. Plumridge, Captain
Bernal, Ralph Forster, Matthew Protheroe, Edward
Blake, M. J. Fox, C. R. Pulsford, Robert
Blewitt, R. J. Gisborne, Thomas Rawdon, Colonel
Bouverie; E. P. Hallyburton, Lord Rice, E. R.
Bowring, Dr. Hamner, Sir J.' Roche, E. B.
Bright, John llastle, Archibald Roebuck, J. A.
Brocklehurst, J. llawes, Benjamin Ross, David R.
Brotherton, J. Heron, Sir It. Rumbold, C. E.
Buller, Charles Hill, Lord M. Russell, Lord E.
Busfeild, William Hindley, Charles Smith, J, A.
Butler, Colonel Horsman. Edward Stanley, W. 0.
Byng, G. S. Howard, C. W. Stansfield, IV. R. C.
Cavendish, .C. C. Howiek, Viscount Strickland, Sir G.
Cavendish, G. 11. Hume, Joseph Talbot, C. R.
Childers, J. W. Humpliery, Alderman Tattered, H. W.
Christie, "ir: D. Hutt, William Thornely, Thomas
Clay, Sir W. James, William Trelawny, J. 5,
Cobden, Richard Jo vis, John Turn,r, Edmund
Colebrooke, Sir T. Leveson, Lord Villiers, Charles
Collett, John M`Taggurt, Sir J. Vy v, an, Sir R.
Collins, William Mangles, R. D. Wakley, Thomas
Craig, IV. G. Manners, Lord J. Wallace, Robert
Crawford, W. S. Marjoribanks, S. Ward, H. G.
Curteis, H. B. Marshall, William Watson, Iv, 11,
Dalrymple, Captain Marsland, Henry %we, J. T.
Dawson, T. V. Milnes, R. M. Williams, W.
D'Eyncourt, C. T. Mica% Henry Wilmington, Sir T.
Divett, Edward Mitchell, 1. A. Wood, Charles
Duff, James Morris, David Wyse, Thomas
Duncan, Viscount Mullis, G. F.
Duncan, George Napier, Sir C.
Duncannon,Viscount Norreys, Sir D. J.
Dundas, Admiral O'Connell, M. J.

MIMS.
Duncombc, Thomas
D'lsraeli, B.

Sir James Duke was accidently shut out from voting in favour of
Mr. Duncombe's motion.

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL
LEGISLA LION.
(Continued from The Sun of Feb. 18.)
111.
TAXES UPON CONSUMPTION.
The Governments of nearly all countries have, pro-
bebly as far back as their foundation, exacted tribute, or
tolls, on the importation or exportation of commodities.
The department of Government established to levy those
taxes was variously named. It was originally neither
more nor less than a tollhouse erected at inland passes,
or at landing-places, for collecting a tribute to be paid to
the king or prince. In progress of time it grew up to
be one of the most formidable departments a state, by
the sea-coast, by straits, by rivers, and by land. In Ger-
many the name is still Zcii, ur toll ; in France, huuune ;
in Italy, Dogana.
Commodities produced in one country and imported
into another country, to be used therein, can only enter
extensively into consumption when the price is as low as,
or lower than, that at which similar commodities can be
produced at home.
The natural advantages or disadvantages of soil,
climate, minerals, raw materials, geographical position,
population, and the state of the arts and sciences, vary so
greatly in one country from those of another, that some
countries can produce some commodities which others
cannot at equally low prices.
Commodities which a country does not produce at all,
or only at high prices, can be consumed by the non-pro-
ducing or dear producing country with more advantage
and in greater quantity, if those articles are purchased
at and brought trona the places where they are to be
found at the cheapest cost.
There is no country, with ordinary advantages, that
does not produce some commodities so cheaply as to find
a market for what it produces, over its own consump-
tion, in some other country, and from which a different
kind of article may be brought with profit in return.
This interchange constitutes international trade.
The more numerous or burdensome are the restric-
tions the more limited will this commerce be.
The fewer and lighter are the restrictions the more
extended will it prove.
All experience form evidence of these facts.
If a nation were in a condition that its administration
and security could be maintained without exacting that
tax upon the value of commodities, which constitutes,
not the whole national income, but, as usually levied,
what is termed the indirect public revenue, then no duty
whatever should be levied, either upon articles pro-
duced at home, or upon those imported from foreign
countries.
A public revenue being indispensable to defray the
necessary public expenditure, property, whether in land,
or in commodities produced at home, or imported from
abroad, ought to be taxed, or made to yield up annually
a just proportion of its rent or profit equal to the amount
of the annual legitimate claims upon the nation. This
proportion of the annual rent, or profit, of property,
would then form the whole amount of equitable taxa-
tion, levied upoa all that could equitably constitute the
whole national income.
If commodities which enter into home consumption
are to be taxed, the equitable scale of levying this tax
would be, to levy exactly the same duty upon an ar-
ticle produced at home as upon a similar article imported
from abroad.
There can be no other equitable scale of taxing com-
modities, whether produced at home, or imported from
abroad for domestic consumption.
The producer never pays the tax upon the article he
produces ; he must add, to make any profit by it, the
duty or tax, as well as his profit, to the cost of produc-
tion, and then the consumer pays the whole, including
the tax.
Whoever produces the article consumed, or wherever
it is produced, the consumer pays, not the cost of pro-
ducing it, but the whole market value of the article, in-
cluding every tax upon it. The producer is, however,
limited in his sales by the article he produces being
highly taxed, whether at home or abroad, and his profits
are also diminish( d by taxes, either at home or abroad,
upon the article which he produces, as well as by the
taxes upon every article which he consumes.
If tia: market value of the home-produced article be
higher than the cost of a similar article produced and
imported from abroad, that difference of value arises from
a restriction upon the admission for consumption of the
cheaper article, bither by actual prohibition or by high
duties forming practical prohibition, or by duties so high
that the foreign article can only be imported and used at
prices equal to the amount both of its natural market
value and also of the tax added, either for revenue or to
protect the article produced at home.
The difference between the natural price of an article
imported from abroad, and the higher price of a similar
article produced at home, is a tax imposed upon- the
whole community, it order to put the amount of that dif-
ference inta the pocket of the producer of the home-
made article ; it is also a far greater burden upon the
nation, which is further taxed to the value of so much of
the labour, production, trade, and navigation, which the
protective tax restricts,
If taxation note articles of consumption be indispen-
sable r Meet the claims upon the public revenue, then,
Ira quarter of wheat imported from Prussia, Odessa, or
elsewhere, pay a duty of Ss , or 45., when entered
for consumption in the United kingdom ; in like
manner, every quarter of wheat produced at home
to pay a duty of Bs. or
ought, on sound principle,