The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-09-12 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN.

t

=WEIL
TAX ON CAPITAL.
TO iiieLoitaiGOUFTTRHE OSe.xtecti
. VimAlfiltETTß.O.Z.Tax. C.
affeA.NCIL-
Sist,—lt is moat ardently
you 411DW out;.o a tax upent7Cabe Phit7.6ll, ottriltntyheatdilgeil-
mentation So' the Property Tax, ore Its present
seals,
surew wouillidiot bntoet
te:rrieeeldeas in teloosuffhtito f
t,haes
skateaOy suchatm !ray;
and,the consequences ,might be very alarming. Al.
ready the middling class of society, whtth, in every
country, forms the mostvlrtuous pert of it, are borne
down to.the owed by oppressive taxes, and can
scarcely afford them reins the necessaries of life; it is
nom high time that the upper rw!kf should begin to
bear THEIR. FULL MARX of the pressure of the times
—hitherto they have not : and although we are ever-
lastingly told that this war is carried OR for the pro-'
tection of our lives and properties, the far greater
part of the burden has fallen upon those who have
little property to protect ; and if that little le filched
from them in the shape of onerous taxes, what in-
terest can they bare in the contest, or of what con-
sequence is It to then who prevails, seeing that they
are already deprived of almost every comfort of life?
That this is the fact, AND WO that this mode of
arguing-upon the consequences is side spread, every
person having intercourse with thentiddling snit:lower
ranks can testify ; perhaps Ministers, and bleadiare of
both Houses of Parliament, who riot in luxury and
profusion, may be ignorant of those things, and will
continue to add- burden to burden, and affliction to
affliction, till the bubble burst with eternal rain upon
their heads; but if they wish to avoid this dreadful
catastrophe, they must now relinquish their pitiful
selfishness, and fairly submit to bear their proper
share of the burden; this cannot be done more ef-,
fectually than by a fair and just regulation of the
Property or Income Tax : if this tax was properly
graduated, it might be rendered unobjectionable, and
would also obviate the necessity of any'additional
tax--on its present scale it is both oppressive and an-
,just.
If we are really fighting for our property, as you
tell us, and of,course for those who possess itorhich,
I sincerely .beliere, upon what rule of justice, or
common seine, tan 'you then demand from an Indus-
trious tradesman, who has no property but what is
the fruit of -his daily labour, and of course could
never be taken from him wore the enemy 'this door,
bow can you deatind him to contribute out of his
hard-earned trifling *gains, in the same proportion
with the pampered Capitalist or rich Noblemen; whose
cause we are fighting; who alone have property to
defend ; and who ought; properly speaking, .to.bear
the whole burden of this war? Instead of which
they bear little, and feel noise of those cutting dis.
tresses which it has entailed upon the middling 'and
lower ranks!. Wien a man 'weir& [wag or Afty'
thousands seer, pays two or Iva thousand for Pro.
perty Tanvbas•be: net left moric_Asau sufficient to
indulge in afl'the luxuries of life?, Very different Is
it with. the man who has a wife and family to support
upon two or three hundred a gear—take twenty or
thirty pounds from that little pittance, and he is
obliged to relinquish one meal a day, and this, for:
sooth, to protect the property of those pampered
and selfish men of fortune, who neither know nor
care one farthing about his sufferings and depri-
vations.

Instead, therefore, of any tax upon Capital, or
general addition to the Property Tax, let the latter
be so graduated, that the bank,: may fall propor-
tionately uponthose who really have property to pro-
tect, for it is their war; whereas, if the middling
and lower ranks are to be still farther oppressed,
well may they exclaim, " What interest have we in
this contest!" What was it but such oppression that
has obtained for BONAPARTE so easy an admission
into all the countries he has over-run ? and, yet our
infatuated Ministry seem Killing to continue the same
measures until a similar catastrophe overtakes this
country.
The gradation upon the Property Tar, to be fair
and equitable,ooght teadvanee upon a scale something
like the following, all income under 801. to be free
of tax : •

• Dublin
-Val*:
,-;'••410 t"•'•ce
at
Lisbon ri••64.•.1• 4•••
• Cadiz
• ' ' • Maittenbnr a 0 Gotigtt • .....••.. . . '.•
:I