The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-01 00:00:00

EDINBURGII MEETING ON THE
INCOME TAX.
(Abridged from the Scotsman.)
A meetin,, of the Aggregate Liberal Committee
was held yesterday afternoon, in the Merchants' Hall,
the Lord Provost in the Chair. Several hundred
members were present.
Sir JOHN DA.LTEL addressed the meeting in refer-
ence to the gross inequalities of the income tax, which
he illustrated by reference to the situation of mer-
chants and professional men, as compared with landed
proprietors.

gir JAsfr.s.fiinsnx-(,`w,poi ft:ftn illustrating the op-
pressive nature of the tax at some length, and main-
taining that no man of proper feeling could ever
quietly submit to such a degree of injustice as he
described, Sir James proceeded to deny the truth of
Sir Robert Peel's statement, that the tax was neces-
sary, and therefore the country must submit to it.
There was no necessity fir injustice.—(Great ap-
plause.) With regard to the amount of the tax he
thought it dangerous from being so little, because an
attempt would thereby be
made to reconcile-the peo-
ple to it, until it might at length be lookedupon us
one of the ordinary ways and means of raising money.
Were the tax necessary, he for one would not
object to it ; but Sir Robert Peel had in eff'ETt ad-
mitted) in the strongest manner, that it was'not ne-
cessary by the reductions he made in the tariff.' Sir
James concluded;
;by, moving
the tax.
resolutions cond6uning

Airseconded the resolutions. The in-
eipallityßLA
and injustice njnstice of the income tax, he said, had
not been brought .out more forcibly than by a speaker
in the House ()Nimmons, who stated that when the
tax was in force•previously, Glasgow paid 600,0001.,
while Manchester, with double its amount of capital,
paid only 300,000
L— (Hear, hear.) Upon a prin-
ciple of equal justice, Manchester ought either to
have been assessed to the amount of 1,200,0001., or
Glasgow at. 10,000/. Another great objection to
the income tax was the facility -with which, when first
imposed, it could be screwed up. Whenever there
Government, had to do was to add another per cent.
was any shortcoming in the revenue all, that the
But there was nothing more odious about the tax
than its inquisitorial character. In this respect it
was quite worthy of a despotic 'Government. It had
been well said by a clever periodical writer that the only
war at present was a war by the landlord against the
community at large—(Cheers)—and it was in order
to enable them to carry on this war ,that the tax was
laid on. Sir Robert Peel told the landlords that it
was their interest to put down discontent and disaffec-
tion. Well did Sir Robert know the source of this
disaffection ; and therefore he told them that it was
better for the landlord to pay the tax and put it down.
Sir Robert proposed to exempt all farmers under 3001.
rent. Now, the great bulk of the farmers in Eng-
land were rented under 300/., so that the farmers
would, in this way, be almost all exempted, and s&)
much money put into the pockets of the landlords.
There was, altogether, something mean in Sir Robert's
whole scheme. Ile sought to conciliate the House of
Lords by maintaining the Corn-laws, and to disarm
the Irish -Members by exempting Ireland from the
income tax. Why should not that Church which Was
wallowing in wealth contribute its fair share to the
revenue Than, in order to conciliate the work-
ing-clasK•a, he proposed to exempt them from
the tax also; but, if they knew their own in-
terests, the working-classes would see that the
did not escape so free as at first appeared-;
for, suppose that fifty millions were dmwn from the
pockets of the community by this tax, was not this
just taking away so much money, which would other-
wise have been employed in trade, and, without
which, the manufacturers and tradesmen must employ
He concluded by seconding the motion.
wages ?—(lleac.)
fewer workmen, and give lower
'the resolutions were carried unanimously.
Mr. W. GIBSON CRAIG, UP., was one of✓ those who
had voted for delaying the consideration of the income
tax ; and he had done so -for the purpose of allowing
the people time to hold such meetings as the present
to express their opinions. The career of Sir Robert
Peel as a financier had been altogether a Most unfor-
tunate one, being neither agreeable to his friends nor
satisfactory to his opponents; and that his present
scheme was one of the greatest blunders he had ever
committed.—(Cheers.)
The meeting then adjourned.
MEETING OF ME MERCHANTS' '
COMPANY.

Yesterday forenoon, at ten o'clock, a meeting. of the
Merchant Company, called by requisition, took place
in their hall, llunter-square, "to consider the pro-
priety of petitioning against the income tax." Mr.
in the Chair.
A.AJbaomuitessoixnlyMmaesta:if:s
It%l,ieereCporienspeannt.y,
Mr. J. F. MACrARLAN proceeded to show the
hardship of the tax. Schedules, he believed, would
be sent to parties to fill up with the amount of their
income, and, when filled up, these would be returned
to certain Assistant-Commissioners, and-made acces-
sible to the Survey-or, and, if these parties were not
satisfied with the return, they would have the power
to surcharge it; and, if the surcharge was to be the
same as formerly, this was double the amount men-
tioned in the return. Suppose a person to give in his
income at 4001. If the Commissioners, judging from
t
power of making a surcharge,
ften a very bad
this too little,
indexh e extoe
fr n al
prosperity—shouldappeti a7c e ofthe s ohip k
they would have the
and thus tixing the person upon 8001. If the
party should wish redress, he would have the right to
be heard before the General Commissioners ; and they
it seemed, were to have very _extensive powers to de-
mand precise information. His books would have to