The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-18 00:00:00

chinery of the property tax in 1802. I detested the tax,
as we all did. We considered it the very worst tax that
had been imposed until then, and we utterly denied
the necessity o!'iniposing it,. contending that it ought to
be discontinued at the end of the war. Feeling this we
all admired the ingenuity by which all incomes were
made to pay, by levying the tax from those who
had no interest in concealment. Thus you
levied the income of the landlord from the tenant,
and he deducted it from the rent, having no interest in
concealment, until you added a counter.-interest by
taking his own profits to be measured by his rent. But
that also was checked by other modes which enabled you
to get at his rents and profits, with which he paid his
landlord. And, so the debtor had no interest, and pro-
bably no very great feeling for the creditor, but
he made him pay the tax, and deduct it from
the creditor. This was the first time, that
a real income tax began to be levied ? What was the
consequence of that ? The consequence was that very
soon you raised 10 or 11 millions. In the course of a
few years it rose to 1G millions. But take the taxes in
the two first schedules A and B ; that in the
landlord and farmer's tax, and the tax on trades an
professions, and these alone increased in seven years—
from 1807 to 1814—nO less than three millions and a
half. Now, I am puttirir aside the funds and
the tax on official salaries. .Bstttaking only those two kinds,
and deducting one tenth for the depreciation of the cur-
rency, there was a clear increase of more than thee millions.
There was an increase of somewhere about- 2,000,000/.
during the last year. Now, observe, Ido not say that
was an increase equally upon trade and land. There had
been on the whole an increase of nearly 7,000,000/. in
two years ; there had been-an increase in one year of
3,440,000/., and in the other year-of 3,447,000/. But that
increase arose from the fact, that the preceding four or
five years were unfavourable years ; and in the very
next year—in the year 1814—there had been an in-
crease of upwards of 400,000/. in the tax levied
upon trades and professions, which was nearly equal to
the increase in the tax upon the property of landlords
and tenants. There had at the same time been an im-
provement in the commerce of the country in the
years 1811, 1812, and 1813, the commercial dis-
tress being then at an end. Now; my Lords, if you
find that there was this constant increase, not only in
the income tax levied upon land, but also
,in the income
tax-levied upon trade, it follows of necessity that after
the termination of the war there must have been some
increase at least going on in the taxable income of the
country ; and even supposing you were to
assume that all the improvements made in agri-
culture were to go for nothing—even supposing you
were to assume that all the new land brought into culti-
vation could only be set off against the lowering of rents
in some parts of the country—even supposingyou were to
assume that the lowering of the price of agricul-
tural produce had made so great a difference
both in the farmer's profits, and in the landlords' rent,
and that you must set off these circumstances against all
the consequences of the great improvements in tillage,
which have been, everywhere and cOnstantly going
on all over this country every year during the 26
years that have elapsed since the end of the war—
then you would still have to calculate upon an increase
in the taxable income derived from the trade, the
manufacture, and the commerce of the country
in all its branches, and that increase must of
necessity have been very considerable. Your
Lordships will be pleased to recollect that
25,000,00GL a year of war taxes have been given up
during this time. The increase to which I have referred
took place while you were raising war taxes to- the
amount of 25,000,000/. a year. I am talking of the gross
sum, which amounted to from 24,000,000/. to 25,000,0001.
that tax was levied during the latter years of the war ?
And notwithstanding all that enormous amount of capital
withdrawn from profitable employment, and not-
withstanding all the enormous expenses of the
war—the lavish expenses of the war—not-
withstanding all that enormous expenditure, which
did not go to increase our productive capital or
productive resources, and, consequently, the taxable
income of the country ; when you find that, not-
withstanding nil that, the income of the country
did go on increasing, it necessarily follows, as it
appears to me, that on the remission of those taxes there
must have been some considerable additions made to tl.e
taxable income of the country. But for my purpose it is
not necessary to show that there must have been any
enormous increase—it is necessary for me to show
that there must have been an increase to an amount
which ought to relieve tenants from their share of the
income tax, owners of land from their share, and pro-
fessional incomes from their share. It is only necessary for
me to show that there must have been so great an increase
of the taxable income of the country, as must raise the
estimate of the amount to be derived from a tax of
3 per cent., sufficiently to enable you to spare a
little to the farmer, and to spare a little to pro-
fessional incomes, whether of the lawyer, of the
physician, of the divine, or of the literary man.
I hope your Lordships will be of opinion that I have
made out a sufficient .case, in the first place, to-prevail
on your Lordships to record on your journals, your de-
termination that an income tax, if it be at all necessary
to be imposed, shall not survive that necessity, even by
a fraction of 4year; and in the next place, that an income
tax so imposed shall contain no variation of rate as between
one amount of income and another amount of income,
but only a reasonable and moderate variation of rate as
between incomes of one description and incomes ,of
another description, believing that incomes of life annui-
tants and -profesSiofial men, do not stand upon the same
grounds as those &rived from property and capital,
I will uOWSay a few words of the most odious part of the
income tax, I mean its inqui:iitorial character—(Hotu,
hear)—and as the tax itself falls most unequally on:dif-
ferent classes of the community, as it is roost uneqUal in
all its pressure, -so, it is most unequal in its
inquisitorial character, and
.the inquisition falls most
-unequally on different classeS. What is it to the fund-
holoer to allow it to be known how much his income in
the funds is, which it is impossible must not be known
to all mankind? But at till -events, what is it to persons
in public o. tees to have their income known, it being as
well known what their income is as the name
of the officer for the perforMance of time duties of which
they are paid ? What is it even to the landholder to
have his income known, in comparison with the trader
and the professional man The inoumbrances on the
property of the one are a secret, and perhaps it is
sufficient pain for him that those incumbrances
exist, but it must be also utter ruin to the tradesman if
his embarrassments became known,—(Cheers.) It is
not from any feelings of morbid sensibility or vain
pride that makes him shrink from having his
circumstances pryed into ; but it may be to him
matter of life and death to have the parti-
cular state of his circumstances known. What
is the consequence ? He is obliged to pay for a
mach larger income than he has—he is obliged to give
in an aceonni: that sinks his losses ; but if lie said I have
no income he would be in the Qazette next week for say-
ing so. But then it is said these things are told to honour-
able persons—they are concealed and privately communi-
cated to a board— the facts will be known only by Commis-
sispiss.s-shet he did not choose those Commissioners, and
it might happen by some one mit of all the chances in
• the world that those Commissioners might be the very
persons from whom, of all persons, he might desire most
particularly to conceal the state of his off lips. Theinstant
the subject is mentioned it strikes every one. The more it
is thought of, the more it adds to the -horror which such a
tax must create—increasing the repugnance all men must
feel against it, and only augmenting, if it be capable of
augmentation, the reluctance and bitter pain with
,t;i1411 ppiot fcgalld the 411solgto neceskity which he is
told exists, that he shall pay such a tax, This also
ought to make clear, undeniable, utterly unhesitating,
the resolution of the Government but whether
the Government so resolves or not, I do not
care —it ought to make clear and strong the,
i/eSolution Cif fIIP 1/4014111Pfli .4114 Cif the people of
this country, that for one hour after the necessity shall
have ceased, so odious an impost will no longer be suffered
to endure. My Lords, that it should fall on all classes
wii can afford to pay their share of the public burdens,
every one mp§t OP* nor 'do I mean to throw away
a single word in emleavoesieg to show this obligation';
but I will say now, that it gives me unspeakable gratifi,.
cation to have been inforined that the sentiment not
r, ply or pur Lorciships nor of the gountry at large, but
that their wishes and our wishes ,have, been nobly and
graciously anticipated—(Cheers)—long before we had an
opportunity of breathing those wishes—that the resolution
has been taken that that burden which necessity 0010.
jwitify the Government in asking tha,paliament to
.iispose—lhatThat burden shall be borne by the highest
as well as by the humblest class.—(Hear, hear.) My
Lords, it has been a fiction—a decorous fiction—of the
Constitution, that the responsibility of eveeY painfel dety
devolves on the Ministers, bet that every act of grace
and favour proceeds from time Monarch himself. But on
this occasion Ispeak not of that fiction of the Constitution,
but of the fact of truth, when I say thud the Monarch
herself, and not the Minister, is to be thanked for this
gracious act.—(Cheers.) My Lords, if it were upon
any other occasion, I should say that I had detained your
Lordships at a most unreasonable length ; but ou an-oc-
casion of such moment, and so deeply interesting to the
whole community, I can hardy allow even the respect I
feel foryourLordships to betray me into making an excuse,
I know that in the discharge of my duty I have sought
no selfish advantage ; on 'the contrary, I have submit-
ted my animosity, my implacable objection to this tax,
to the pressing necessities of my countrymen. I have
sought no party favour, for I-have stated doctrines on
the one hand differing from those of my Noble Friends
opposite, and an the other, such as my Noble Friends
on this side of the House, are not likely to accept. I
have sought no favour out at doors, for I have set my
face alike against an open robbery of the public
creditor, and against the 'disguised injustice of a
graduated scale, I have discharged- my duty as a
Member of Parliament in the manner, and on the scale,
and at the
esr anxious
so'hiactileisriltioulCihtor refection t
wholen on
scopeth e
subject, and
of the question,' have taught me to believe
is the fittest for meeting the exigencies of the occasion,
and Inow close the remarks I have to make to your Lord-
ships with this one additional regret, that a tax'
which seemed now inevitable, but 'which
ought to be our resource in, war, amend reserved
for time of war, should, unhappily, and from dire neces-
sity, be compelled to be resorted to In time of peace.
These have been my opinions ever since the year 1816,
when my friend, the late Mr. Wilberforce,
said, in these memorable words—" Let this tax
always be wedded to war, not only that the people
may be relieved from such a burden in times of peace,
but that the people—that humanity—may have less reason
to dread a time of war, when those in whose hands the
waging of war or the keeping of peace may bs, are aware,
and when the people are made aware of the cost, which
Ives may entail upon them." This,
my Lords, re-
doubles the regret with which one sees such a resource
—such a magnificent national resource as this May be in
time of war—anticipated and used in time of peace.
I may add, that the bare knowledge by the rest of the
world that we have this splendid resource on which to rely