The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-21 00:00:00

Ott _Atit.

LONDON?
THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 21, 1842.

THE INCOME TAX.

The Income-tax Bill, ordered by the House of Com-
mons on Monday to be printed, has just bee►► published,
and is entitled "A Bill for granting to her Majesty duties
on profits arising from property, professions, trades, and
offices." It has been prepared and brought in• by Sir
ROBERT PEEL, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
and Sir GEORGE CLERK, contains 189 clauses, and ex-
tends to 130 folio pages. A brief outline of the contents
will be found interesting to all those concerned. The
tax is to be charged and levied from and after the sth
day of April, 1842, and is to continue in force till the
sth of April, 1545, and no longer. There are five
schedules, A, B, C, D, E, which describe the different
rates of taxes to be levied, and the various kinds of pro-
perty liable to the assessment.
Schedule A enacts—That for all lands, tenements, and
hereditaments or heritages in Great Britain, there shall
be charged sevenpence for every twenty shillings.
Schedule B.—For all lands, &c., in respect of the occu-
pation thereof in England, the sum of threepence-ha ff-
psnny shall be paid for every twenty shillings of the
annual value thereof, and in Scotland the sum of two-
pence-halfpenny.
Schedule C.— Upon all profits from annuities, divi-
dends, and shares of annuities, payable to any person,
body politic or corporate, company or society, out of any
public revenue, there shall be charged sevenpence for
every twenty shillings, without deduction.

Schedule D.—Upon the annual profits or gains accru-
ing to any person residing in Great Britain from any
kind of property whatever, whether in Great Britain or
elsewhere, there shall be charged sevenpence for every
twenty shillings, and the same sum for every twenty
shillings upon the annual profits accruing to any person
whatever, whether a subject of her MAJESTY or not, re-
siding in Great Britain, or any profession, trade, em-
ployment, or vocation exercised within Great Britain.

gchedule E.—Upon every public office or employ-
ment of profit, and upon every annuity, pension, or
stipend payable by her MAJESTY, or out of the public
revenue (except annuities included in Schedult C),
there shall be charged for every twenty shillings yearly
the sum of sevenpence. It is enacted that upon every
fractional part of twenty shillings a similar rate of
duty shall be charged, but not of a lower denomination
than one-half penny. Clause 3, enacts that the
duties granted by this Act shall be under the ma-
nagement of. the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes ;
and the remaining clauses, to clause 24 inclusive,
provides for the appointment of Commissioners
and Assistant-Commissioners, for the purposes
of the Act. The Governor and Directors of the
Bank of England are appointed Commissioners for
assessing duties on annuities, dividends, and sala-
ries payable by the Bank. A similar enactment
is made respecting the South Sea Company, the East
India Company, and the Commissioners for the reduc-
tion of the national debt. The Commissioners for the
duties on offices in the public departments are to be ap-
pointed by the principal officers belonging thereto ; for
instance, the LORD CHANCELLOR and Judges, and the
principal officers of each Court, whether civil, judicial,
criminal, ecclesiastical, military, or naval, shall respec-
tively have the power to appoint Commissioners from
and amolig the officers of each Court. For cities and
boroughs the Chief Magistrate and the Aldermen,
Baillies, or principal officers, by whatever name
they are called, shall be Commissioners for exe-
cuting the Act. Alll these Commissioners are
to be exempted from parish and ward offices and serving
on Juries. Temporary absentees are to be charged as
residents, and temporary residents to be charged after
six months' residence. Persons departing after claim-
ing exemption, and returning within the year, to be
charged. Corporations and societies to be charged with
duties. Non-residents are to be charged in the name
of their factors or agents. The receivers of trust pro
perty appointed by the Courts of Law chargeable, but
may retain the duties out of the trust-monies. Clause
45 enacts, that the profits of any married woman, living

with her husband, shall be deemed the profits of the hus-
band, and a woman living apart from her husband shall
be charged as a femme sole. Assessors are to fix general
notices on church-doors, &c., requiring persons to de-
liver lists, these lists to be delivered to the assessor of
the same parish or place. Householders are to deliver
lists of the names of lodgers, inmates, and others,(who
are liable to the provisions of the Act, but not otherwise,
and every person chargeable shall give a title and cor-
rect statement in writing, containing the annual value of
all lands and tenements in his possession, and the amount
of his profits or gains from all and every the sources
chargeable under the Act. The penalties for neglecting
to deliver lists are extremely stringent, as it is enacted
that every such person shall forfeit any sum not
exceeding 20/., and treble the duty at which he ought to be
charged. Houses under 101. are to be charged on
landlords, as well as the houses of Foreign Ministers,
exemptions are made in favour of Colleges and Halls in
Universities, hospitals, public schools, and almshouses./
A great number of clauses follow, laying down rules'
for the assessment of various kinds of property. Te-
nants in Scotland are to produce their leases, or leave
them with a Justice of the Peace, or the clergyman. The
assessments on houses are to be discharged for the period
they are unoccupied. Commissioners arc to allow and
sign assessments not objected to, but when objection is
made, they are to rectify assessments. Exemptions are
made in favour of Friendly Societies, charitable institu-
tions, the stock or dividend belonging to her MAJESTY, or
to any accredited Minister from a foreign State. Clause 97
provides that persons carrying on two trades or profes-
sions may set the losses of the one against the profits of
the other. Inspectors and Surveyors may examine assess-
ments, and amend them, if erroneous ; and persons '
aggrieved may appeal to the Commissioners for General
Purposes in the district. Commissioners may
put questions in writing respecting any assess-
ment, and receive answers, on oath, if required.
In certain cases the Commissioners for General Purposes
may make ant. assessment according to their judgment,
which shall be final ; and where an assessment shall be
increased, owing to incorrect returns, the party may be
charged with a penalty not exceeding treble the amount
of duty. Duties may be paid in advance subject to discount,
and after assessment made parties may compound for three
years. The assessments to be for one year, payable by four
instalments: in England—viz., on or before the 20th day of
June, for the first instalment, and so on, to the 20th of
March for the fourth quarterly instalment. In Scotland
the payments are to be made half-yearly—namely, on
the first, on the 20th of September ; and the last, on the
20th of March.. Persons giving false evidence or swear-
ing falsely, to be liable to the penalties of perjury, and
may be tried where the affidavit was exhibited. The
Commissioners, inspectors, surveyors, and all other
officers employed in carrying the Act into effect, are to
make oath that they will act according to the best of their
information and knowledge, without favour, affection,
or malice, and that they will not disclose any particular
contained in any statement or schedule, except to such
persons as shall be sworn to receive their statements.
The Act is to apply only to persons possessed of an in-
come of 1501 a year and upwards.

It would not be worth while noticing the Earl of
litrox's self-contradictions, were knot that we trace
with more certainty the principles of a system, when
their consequences are blunted out by a weak, than
when they are carefully elaborated, guarded, and
Mystified by a cunning man. The Cabinet are about
to perpetrate a series of new and mischievous enact-
ments, and they have assigned, to justify these
enactments, a great variety of contradictory
reasons. Neither in Parliament, nor in the press,
is there that homogenity of argument which, dis-
tinguishes a sincere conviction, and even their own
supporters acknowledge themselves, by the variety
of contradictory reasons, to be stunned and be-
wildered.
Of the general contradictions which pervade the
Tory arguments, we shall quote the Earl of Ripores
observations, which would otherwise be wholly un-
worthy of notice, as a specimen. He began his
speech on Monday evening by admitting that the
system of free trade was " kind, considerate, and
charitable ;" but he objected to this system that
it would make England dependent for corn on foreign
countries. He then went on to show at considerable
length, and with much statistical information, that
there were no foreign countries from which we could
get any great supply of corn. He would not have a
free trade in corn, therefore, because that would
reduce us to a state of dependence on foreign
nations for corn, and next, because we could
not get any great quantity from them. If we
could get no great quantity of corn from them
we could not possibly become dependent on them for
a large quantity, and the Noble Earl, therefore, com-
pletely answered the only objection he made to adopt-
ing a system which he called " kind, considerate, and
charitable," and which has the higher recommenda-
tion of being just. If any man in common life had,
with this sort of Irish dexterity, sawed off the head of
his own argument, and let himself flop chiwn in the
mire, he would have been laughed at as an egregious
ass ; but Lord RIPON'S contradictions passed in the
House of Peers for wisdom.

The Duke of WELLINGTON, to take 'a
far higher
example, began his speech on Tuesday evening by
declaring that " there could be no doubt, as an abstract
proposition, that no duty ought to be laid on the food
of the people." Now an abstract proposition means a
proposition divested of all party and factious colouring
of either time or place. It is the essence of truth,
deduced from all experience and purified from all
passion ; yet the Duke of WELLINGTON cannot act
on such a solemn principle, because Viscount MEL-
BOURNE thought that there should be some protec-
tion to agriculture. He avowedly prefers his own
imaginings to deductions of long experience as the
basis of law. For him this proposition is true, and
it is not true. He says it is undoubtedly true, but
at the same time he shows, from a variety of supposi-
tions, that it cannot be true, and he concludes that
by his law the truth must be overruled.
Turning from the Lords to the Commons, we find

Lord STANLEY, in the early part of Tuesday even-
ing, recommending all " emigrants to place them-
selves under the Government agents," and be guided
by them ; and we find Sir ROBERT PEEL, in the lat-
ter part of the evening, recommending all people to
rely on their better discretion. He delivered this very
important, but, to the whole Tory scheme, most con-
tradictory truth :
I have not the slightest doubt that there are frauds
committed in manufactures—l have not the least doubt
of it ; and so long as the world exists, there will be
fraud, there will be dishonesty, and no laws which you
can pass will be sufficient to prevent it.—(Hear, hear.)
The security you have against fraud is in free compe-
tition, and in the preference which, in the long run, the
honest dealer will have over the fraudulent. Precautions
of this kind, when taken against fraud, very often defeat
themselves. The party who buys the article relaxes in
that natural vigilance and circumspection which he ought
always to exercise.—(Hear, hear.) When I first went
to Ireland I found that there had been frauds in the
butter trade. A butter-taster was then appointed ; not
a firkin was allowed to go out until it had first been
tasted, and there was then a stamp placed upon it to show
that it was genuine.—(Laughter.) People then bought
the butter, taking its quality for granted, because it had
been submitted to the butter-taster. The consequence
was, that frauds were practised to a greater extent than
they had ever been practised before. because there was a
general absence of that caution and vigilance which had
been previously exercised.—(Hear, hear.) Depend upon
it the natural interest of the purchaser is the great secu-
rity against fraud, and another security is that integrity
and honesty all in the long run, both with respect to the
home consumer and the foreign consumer, ultimately sell
th cheapest article, and secure the greatest profit.

There is enough in that paragraph to upset not
only Tory policy, but all Government. If the laws
of the most skilful legislator can prevent fraud, why
make laws at all, seeing that they are not good, but
evil per se, and only defensible because they do pre-
vent frauds. It is no benefit to society to hang or
imprison a man if it do not prevent crimes. Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S was a better mode of preventing
fraud than laws " free competition," but at this
time he is framing and forcing through Parlia-
ment laws to prevent free competition in grain,
and, therefore, to encourage fraud. Then he gives an
admirable example, and illustrates it very happily by
his own knowledge—not by a theory—of the vast in-
jury which is done to the people by instituting pro-
tecting laws for their own discretion and for general
competition, yet, he acts in the teeth of his own prin-
ciple. Lord STANLEY would have the people rely on
the Government. Sir R. PEEL, with a true Radical
spirit, tells them to rely on themselves. The man
who would not substitute a butter-taster for individual
caution, who tells the House of Commons to rely on
the " natural interest of the purchaser," is not the
man to carry out, with sincerity and consistency, the
protecting and restrictive system he has taken in hand.
After Sir R.. PEEL had delivered this true and im-
portant sentence he said :

- Now I cannot conceive anything so bad as the conduct
of the master, who, in violation of the law, abuses the
power which he has over his workmen, by compelling
ihose workmen to buy of hint inferilier articles at the ful.