The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-22 00:00:00

CORN BILL.

In answer to a question from an Hon. Member, •
Sir R. PEEL said, he purposed proceeding with the Corn Bill
this day (Tuesday), if motions which had precedence should be
disposed of at a sufficiently early hour to afford him the opportunity.

QUEEN'S PRISON BILL.

This Bill went through Committee, and was read a t►ird time.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned.

THE TO-1(Y INCOME TAX.
[OPINIONS OF THE COUNTRY PRESS.]
(From the Dublin Evening Post.)
" The discontent in general, and remonstrances the
most vehement, are uttered in all directions against
the proposal of a tax on income, which is denounced
as most inquisitorial and obnoxious, and the adoption,
in time of peace—at least of peace in Europe—of an
impost, never heretofore resorted to unless in war.
But it is not the income tax alone which forms the
ground of public dissatisfaction. The new tariff is a
most prolific source of discontent, and there appears
to be scarcely a single trade or interest that does not
complain."

(From the Leeds Times.)
" An income tax is a tax of a most searching and
unpitying nature : it falls with unequal weight on
the classes the least able to bear it : it is exceedingly
odious in its operation, from being so inquisitorial;
and it will afford too many opportunities to the un-
principled, for escaping the operation of the tax.
How is it possible correctly to ascertain the incomes
of men in business ? In times such as the present,
how many are there in large business who scarcely
know whether they are losing or gaining ? And
who is to ascertain the amount of people's income, in
order to tax it ? Are we to have a grand inquisition
set on kot by Income Tax Commissioners, who are
to have the right of fetching up every man in the
country from his counting-house, his shop, or his
barn, and of overhauling his ledger and his day-
book, prying into his profits, his debts, and his assets,
and of wringing from him, by slow torture, secrets
which motives of honour, of delicacy, or convenience,
impel him to conceal within his own bosom ? And,
even though correctly ascertained at one time, the
estimate of a man's income, who was extensively en-
gaged in trade, might prove quite fallacious at another."
(From the Berwick Advertiser.)
" The person whose income depends upon a thou-
sand accidents is taxed to the same amount as he who
derives his from a source as little liable to variation
as is consistent with the ordinary course of human
affairs. This, however, is only one of innumerable
instances in which the tax would operate unjustly.
Fair as it may at first sight appear, an income tax can
never be equally levied. It is, therefore, of necessity.
a continued systematic violation of justice."
(From the Hereford Times.)
" If Sir Robert Peel be not successful as a State
Physician, assuredly he has earned the character of
State Conjuror. But will the nation be satisfied with
his legerdemain ? What does he propose to accom-
plish ? The agriculture, the trade and commerce—
certainly the two last—are in a state of the most
urgent distress; and as the master means of relief,
Sir Robert Peel taxes the profits (?) of the farmer,
merchant, and tradesman, sevenpence in the pound!
Verily, this is conjuration on a national scale indeed !
Let, however, this fact be constantly kept in view—
that Lord John Russell and the Whigs offered to re-
lieve the national distress without adding a feather's
weight of new taxes to the burden already heavily
pressing the back of John Bull; whereas, Sir Robert
feel and the Tories have determined to add four mil-

lions of pounds to that huge and hardly-borne burden
Let not this broad distinction and difference be for-
gotten by either the farmer or tradesman, when next
autumn he pays the first half-year of Peel's income tax."

(Proin the Devonport Telegraph.)
" The income tax, if imposed in its present form,
will operate with much injustice. The sources of in-
come are as various as the amounts of incomes them-
selves, and the nature of the source from whence an
income is derived ought to be considered in reference
to the tax it is to bear. Two men may be in the re-
ceipt of. the same amount of yearly revenue, and yet
stand in very different positions as to actual wealth.
Is it just to tax that immense class of professional
men, whose means are almost entirely derived from
exertion of body and mind, which depend upon a
thousand causes that can scarcely be defined ; popular
favour, personal skill, the influence of connexions,
and all those presages created by personal character
and deportment—is it just, we ask, to tax the incomes
of this class to the same amount, and in the same
manner, as the revenue of the lord of broad acres, or
the opulent fundholder, the classes who may sit at
home at ease,' and receive their_Jents or their divi—
dends without exertion and without care ? We can-
not think such a taxation would be equitable."
(From the Derbyshire Chronicle.)
" Every man's house is no longer to be his castle—
his private arrangements are to be public property, his
ledgers a species of Government newspaper. He is to
be put up like goods at an auction, at his own price,
and knocked down if a higher bidder thinks him worth
more. It is not a new experiment, it has been tried
and failed. Even in war times it was scouted, every
one looked on it as a pest that was destroyed for ever.
Sir Robert Peel, however, arises again as chief inqui-
sitor—this indecent exposure will at least show him
how little his Corn-laws and monopolies have left the
people ; that however flaunty their outward appear-
ances may be, there is wretchedness and destitution
beneath ; that there are private miseries which they
could silently endure so long as they were kept from
the rude public gaze, but which will become intolera-
ble when he tears aside the veil and holds them forth
to the scorn of gossips, and the ribaldry of scandal-
monger;

(From the Bolton Free Press.)
"Th 3 main feature in the scheme is the tax of
sevenpence per pound to be levied on income. It is
not so much a tax on property as on the skill, credit,
and labour of the middle classes. The lower classes
being unable to bear further taxation, those a little
higher in the scale must bear the pressure, in order
that those above them may still retain their immuni-
ties. An equitable land tax, recognising the increased
value of land, would have done more than meet the
present financial exigency, but such a resort was not
to be thought of in a landlord's Parliament. Leaving
out of sight, however, this broad view of the question,
as between the easy and pampered classes and the
straitened and daily-sinking manufactures, the income
tax is liable to many objections, the force of which
is becoming more apparent, the more they are dis•
cussed. Its inquisitorial character forms among a
nation of shopkeepers,' an insuperable objection to
it. In this point of view it has been well remarked
thet it is a tax on distress,' as in the present state
of things, it will force multitudes to assess themselves
at an unduly high rate merely to save their credit."
(Prom the Stafford Examiner.)
" With regard to the supposition that the exemption
of incomes of less than 150/. really releases the
poorer classes from sharing ttie burdens •of the new
tax, "itis only necessary, in pointing out its fallacy,
to refer to the fact that the employers of these classes
are already so overburdened that they can only meet
the increased demand upon them, by withdrawing a
corresponding portion of the income by which their
dependents are maintained. And is it reasonable to
suppose that the incomes of manufacturers and mer-
cantile men, already so insufficient to enable them to
pay adequate wages, can be further diminished with-
out occasioning further reductions of wages ? But
even setting aside the objections to the fact of irn-
posing an income tax in addition to the utmost extent
of indirect ttxation—inaddition to taxes upon the con-
sumption of commodities, so burdensome that the
consumption is gradually decreasing—the scheme is
insufferable, on acconnt of the iniquitous partiality of
its apportionment."
(From the Somerset Gazette.)
" We have received a great number of letters from
correspondents in all parts, of the county, urging ob-
jections to the new tax. These may be reduced to
two—its inquisitorial character, and the injustice of
taxing trades and professions equally with capital. In
the last objection we fully sympathise with our cor-
respondents. Sir Robert Peers plan proposes, in fact,
to impose the same tax upon a man who earns 3001. a
year by his personal exertions, and whose income ex-
pires with him, as on the man who possesses a pro-
perty in land or money of 8,0001. This is manifestly
a wrong, to which the most vigorous opposition should
be offered."
(From the Liverpool Journal.)
"We can scarcely believe that Sir Robert Peel really
means to impose this tax—that he does not rather use
it as a bugbear to frighten the nation into something
a shade less disagreeable. We doubt much that he
will succeed in carrying it if he does propose it ; and,
if he succeeds in carrying it, we doubt that he will
succeed in collecting it. Of all taxes, it is the one
simply to take no notice of their tax
papers, and a Government might just as hopefully and
that can
have easiesto nly be defeated by passive resistance.
creditably send its officers out to rob on the highway,
as send them to help themselves out of people's pro-
perty at their discretion, and without being able to
athssaing
nfivaenyshrilelainsognss.,,
(From the Edinburgh Chronicle.)for taking five pounds any more
" This impost is the penalty which the electors are
to pay for their culpable supineness and the Tory
leanings they manifested at the last election, and
luckily its pressure will be confined to them. The
rtheleaxinactoionines tariffotfaxthewill
chiwefiilyl,beifnot felt
exclusively, gall by all classes, but