The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-09


 should. however quickly disillusion
 him, and should convince him that al-
 most every conceivable expedient
 known to the wit of man has, at one
 time or another, been resorted to in or
 der to provide the ''needful'
 Take for instance the suggested tax
 on bachelors. No doubt the suggestion
 was made flippantly, and was regard
 ed as joke. But it may come as sur-
 prise to many of our readers to learn
 that such tax at one time really ex-
 isted in England, and was duly collect
 ed It was first imposed in 1895, and
 continued in operation until 1706. Dur
 ing those ten 'lean" years tax was
 also imposed on births. marriages and
 deaths, and it was so graduated that
 each man paid according to his station in life. The modest sum of fifty thou
 sand pounds year accrued to the rev.
 enue of the state from this source. In
 1895 also a duty was levied upon all
 seaborn coal imported into London and
 the chronicler tells Us that the proceeds
 of this impost were ear marked for the
 purpose of building those new churches
 in the Italian style which Wren had
 haised in the metropolis to stand in the
 place of old St. Paus and the other
 churches destroyed by the great fire of
 1866. About the same time the manur
 facture of tobacco pipes attracted the
 attention of the needy chancellor of the exchequer, but-and smokers of to-day
 should note this-the tax after being in
 existence three years was pronounced
 a failure, and was forthwith repealed.
 In the list of the principal taxes in force in England at the time of the
 death of William III we find two com .I modities mentioned which show that at least two industries which fourished then are now extinct Scotch linen"
 and whale fins" do not now appear in any commercial price list Salt appears
 to have received marked attention from succeeding finance ministers all through
 the eighteenth century, and 1t was not until 1925 that this indefensible impost was finally repealed. To carry on the war against the United States--when they refused to pay the tea tax and de- clared for. independence-Lord North i was compelled to provide additional revenue Acting no doubt, upon the suggestion of Adam Smith, whose fa- nous treatise, "The Wealth of Ma tions," was published about that time, 1776 A. D., he placed tax of three pence in the pound on all land and houses sold by auction, and sixpence in the pound on all furniture. plate and jewels disposed of in the same way; and in addition he adjusted house tax to the annual value of the house. and so introduced the scheme of rating which has been virtually in operation down to the present day. He also made travellers by stage coach pay a percentage of their fares Into the pulp He treasury Pitt, in 17S9, repealed the tax on shops, Which was bringing In about fifty thousand dollars per annum; but at the same time he placed an im- post of an additional one-half pence upon every newspaper with sxpence additional on advertisements appearing therein on the; assumption that the men who bought newspapers could well af- ford to pay for Esuch luxuries Bricks, hats candles, }brinted linen and calico were also taxed by the great financier, as we'll as race horses and agricultural horses. The "elegants' of the day were called upon togpay orleave to use per- fumery and hair powder, and if they bought one ef the Thew tangled" watches the government of the day de- manded a substantial fee,
 AS is we'll known. Pitt. who was fer tile in resources. proposed the income tax in 1799, and the House of Commons, | magnetized by the spell of his brilliant | oratory passed the measure without I delay. Incomes of two hundred pounds | per annum and upward were charged | ten per cent; betwesn two hundred | pounds and sixty pounds various gradu- ated rates, and incomes below sixty | pounds were regarded as exempt, Tax ation in England reached its zenith be- tween the years 1899 and 1s42 when, owing to the unwise repeal of several taxes in the years immediately preced- ing that period, big effort became ne cessary to restore the financial equi- librium. Consequently there was gen. eral rise in the customs, excise and as- sessed taxees which, however, failed to bring in sufficient revenue. and di- rect VOte or want or commence III lHe Melbourne misstry was carried by a majority of one vote on June 4, 1S41. The period 1S42-'70 marks the reform of taxation in England. The taxes on glass and on property sold by auction were repealed in 1S45, and about the same time remissions of duty were granted for entrants, coffee and ma rine insurance. On Thursday, June 25, 1S46, the famous act for the repeal of duties on corn received the royal as- sent.
 The next ten years saw the repeal of the tax on bricks and windows, and re- ductions in the etamp duties. The year 1860 was marked by what Sir Michael Hicks Beach calls a "wind-fall.'e In that happy year long annuities fell in to the amount of over two million ster- ling, which meant that the annual charge on account of the national debt was thereby reduced by the amount MT. Gladstone was chancellor of the exchequer, and, with the empha tic approval of the House of Commons, he applied the proceeds of the wind fal'' to a remission of several tariffs which at the time were severely ham, pering our trade and manufactures. It is worthy of note that this final revi- -ta., ~1.,A1 tott 0f tlAl