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    1160 THE LEADER. [Saturday, - ¦ ' —^—mm ...

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    TAXATION RFAHJCKl) TO UNITY AND SIMPLICI...

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    The Tooth As It Is In Budh. In The Face ...

    and State—has done the work of an Anti-State-Church Association . It is true that it is only an Hindu establishment ; but . his proceeding amounts to cutting off Church and State in the Budh . No apology for that revolutionary act can be founded upon the question as to the authenticity of the tooth . We admit that mere human reason may have its scepticism about the most obvious tooth . Of this particular tooth , what are the evidences ? What right-minded dentist can vouch

    forits probabilities , non-natural andBudhast , ornatural and elephantine , or rhinoserontic ? If really a tooth , is it a bicuspid , a canine , or a grinder P Are there any traces of its having been devoted to chewing ; and if there are , would the proofs oF authenticity be consistent with a divine superiority to wear and tear . For if we admit wear and tear , where are we to stop ? If you allow reason to enter into these subjects at all , the pride of human intellect pushes us to the most irreverent lengths ; and there would not be

    wanting men rash enough to seek for traces of a divine caries , and thus hinting hideous suggestions as to the possibility of a celestial toothache . Let us close these painful imaginings before we arrive at the advertising of some dissenting dentifrice ; for trade equally dogs the steps of fanaticism and scepticism , as the carrion crow impartially follows in the rear of either army . No , we must not permit logic to rush in where faith fears to tread ; because the familiar explorations of a Tooth , commanding the belief ot tue Cingalese , might be imitated by investigators into other transcendental substances .

    Men might , for example , ask whether it is a tooth at all , or whether it is not that more established emblem of Budliism against which Heber so indignantly inveighs ; a question which suggests a desperate confusion of anatomical knowledge amongst the authorised custodians of the sacred relic . But once license anatomy , or science of any kind , to deal with these subjects , and what truth would be safe ? This Tooth is the apostolic succession of the Cingalese , and it ought not to be interfered with . How should we like to submit our own most cherished convictions to a select committee—how like our own tooth to be declared a mineral succedaneum ?

    But Sir John has proceeded a step further . Government used to enjoy the patronage of the established Church in Ceylon , as well as in other countries ; but that has been given up , and the Budhists '" have been , desired to act for themselves as to those appointments" —to appoint their own "bishops over the Tooth . This is not only equivalent to restoring Convocation , but is recognising election of Bishops ! Sir John has recorded the admission that officials have no infallible criterion , but that the only test of truth lies between the man ' s conscience and his Budh . This is a most subversive ! principle ; it is downright Voluntaryism .

    1160 The Leader. [Saturday, - ¦ ' —^—Mm ...

    1160 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , - ¦ ' —^—mm ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ m ^ ' ^^ f ^ ma ^^ mmmH ^ mm ^ Sl ^^

    Taxation Rfahjckl) To Unity And Simplici...

    TAXATION RFAHJCKl ) TO UNITY AND SIMPLICITY . IX . FRENCH TAXATION . * Ik ( , 1 k : fiscal condition of France , and the evils it threatens , be such as they were described in our lust ., it is no wonder that , an earnest , thinker like M . Futile de ( iirardin should devote his energies to the remedy . Nor , amidst the variety and vagueness of existing theories of ( Jovernmcnt and taxation , and subject to authoritative usages of ancient , derivation and universal acceptance , operating on opinion in one especial sense , in it strange that , even no independent a mind should propose plans which , associated with much that is vitally important , are liable , nevertheless , to serious objection , when examined from other points of view . The third division , ornecond part , of the work under review , is entitled " I'hnpot unique , l'iinpot tel ( ju'il doit efre . " The first , elmpter , entitled " general principles , " consists chiefly of quotations from the nioHt eminent French statesmen and authors , from Sully downwards , stating , in general terms , their views of the true suhject-mntters of taxation , and of the purposes for which the produce of the taxes ought to he Hpent . They are principally adduced to nhow the importance of the unity , simplicity , and directness of imposts ; hut they also [ show how generally the principle suggests itself that property is the true subject-matter of taxation ; while , however , they equally show how * 1 / ttmuH . J ' nr I'lmilo do ( Jimi-din . Nixieine Edition . 1 ' nris : A la JLibruirie JSouvelle , Uoulevard den llulionn , 1 C > , 186 ii .

    commonly that sound and necessary principle is marred in its application both to reasoning and practice . Moreover , if correctness of view in a few of the greatest minds of a country were sufficient to establish just principles of national policy , these extracts amply prove that France would not now have to seek a fundamental reform of her fiscal system , nor be ever on the brink of new dangers from the want of it . Of the author's remarks in this chapter we quote but the following , which is striking and important , although perhaps not entirely correct : — and the

    " Just as before 1789 there were in France the noble villein , —the noble who escaped certain imposts , of which the weight consequently fell on the villein , so now there is the noble capital and the villein capita , —the noble capital , which escapes taxes through its idleness , and the villein capital , which bears all their pressure , because they are pre-levied on its activity , " and are thus a condition of leave to industry to be industry at all . The second chapter , a short one , is devoted to " unity of taxation . " This also consists chiefly of interesting quotations from French writers . By a play on the French words , it opposes not unfairly " I'impot unique " to " l'impqt inique , " and it insists that the constitution of France / by providing that each person shall contribute to the taxes " in the proportion of his ability and of his fortune , " establishes , by an inevitable inference ,

    the directness and singleness of taxation . " In effect , " argues our author , " whoever says 'tax proportional' says tax unique ; ' for that tax which is not unique cannot be made proportional . "When taxation is multiplied under all forms and all names , —when it is levied sometimes on cap ital and sometimes on revenue , —sometimes in kind and sometimes in money , —in some cases on persons , in others on things , — - simultaneously direct and indirect , —at once a cumulative capitation tax and a tax of repartition , —a tax in land for some of a fifth part of the mean duration of life , and for others an insignificant pecuniary premium , —when , in fine , it is the medley and confusion of principles the most opposed to each other , how is it possible to establish , by its means , any proportion between the tax and the means of the tax-payer ? It is impossible ! Proportionality of tax and unity of tax are two different expressions for one idea . "

    The next question is , shall this single tax be applied to consumption , revenue , or capital ? The three following chapters are devoted respectively to enquiries under each of these heads . To consumption , as the base of taxation , the following fatal objections are urged . If the taxation does not apply to every object , it becomes unjust ; for then some objects are taxed , others are not . Articles of luxury are generally not taxed , because the use of them being easily contracted or given up , the taxes on them often do not produce so much as the cost of managing them ; and the total consumption of the poorer classes being far greater than that of the wealthy , presents a larger and surer source of revenue , ( Adam Smith ;) taxation ,

    then , falls chiefly on necessaries , and of these the poor cannot avoid consuming more in proportion to their means than the rich . The tax , then , becomes unjust . Taxes on consumption encourago smuggling and adulteration ; they irritate the people , diminish the sources of public prosperity , and , in the end , injure or destroy Governments . Taxes on articles of consumption , or on . the raw materials required by industry , enhance prices ; they thus discourage and straiten consumption , and , consequently , production , industry , and , lastly , wealth , which results from industry alone . The poor , then , are taxed in the prices of the articles they consume , and they are impoverished by the diminution of the demand for labour which the tax occasions , —they are

    twice struck . Some , indeed , have said that taxes on consumption are easy to assess . True ; but they are costly to collect . It is further said that these are the best of all taxes , and the least troublesome means of raising a revenue , because people do not recognize them in paying them . . Hut if such a reason may justify an unjust tax , it may also justify robbery , the least troublesome means of getting money .

    Taxes on consumption , us far a . i they are efleetive , are not as they have been alleged , optional : most commonly they have for their basis necessity . Hut , as far as they are optional , they are taxes against ; consumption . Kvery tax against consumption is a tax on labour , every tax on labour is a tax against wealth . The- most eminent economists are quoted in support of these views , and M . K . de ( Jinn-din dcfinitiTely rejects consumption as the base ; of taxation .

    To fix taxation on revenue or income is in like manner condemned by our author . All incomes of the same value for the ' year have ; not the same intrinsic value . Those of the landowner , the merchant , the salaried government-officer , the mercantile clerk , the artist ,, the workman , t % _ labourer , have each a real value differing in its ratio to its annual vuluo ; this ratio if , is impoa-Hible , in many cases , to assign , as it is also to determine the proportion such incomes should in taxation bear to each other . lOven within the same class there are

    diHercnees not capable of adjustment . ( Jeorge hci-vch a master for MM . per annum , mid finds his own board and lodging : Robert has 20 / . per annum , but lives in his inaster'n house . Ought not llolxn-t to be taxed on the value of his board and lodging as well an on hifl

    money wages ? The infinite variety of engagements renders it utterly impossible to do justice amongst the tax payers by any imaginable regulations : gome will pay too little , and others must then pay more than their share to make up the deficiency . Incomes are always uncertain . A merchant gains 1000 ? . this year , and loses 2000 ? . next ; a wine-grower makes 200 ? . profit on his crop this year , and next year he does not cover hi » expenses ; a workman has employment 300 days in one year , and not 100 in another

    Nobody can tell what he will gain in the coming year often it is difficult , sometimes impossible , to know with any exactness what was gained in the last , so many are the unascertained contingencies which hang about almost every man ' s affairs . A rule of taxation so slip , pery is harassing to the tax payer , and an insufficient foundation for the proceedings of the State . Moreover , it has to resort to modes of assessment which vexatious in any case , give bad faith an opportunity of profit , while good faith suffers . An impost which makes a dupe of him who tells the truth is detestable

    A tax which is proportional to income is progressive in respect of consumption ; but it is inversely progressive . For , of different incomes a much larger part is spent on objects liable to taxation in the small incomes than in the large ones . An income of 1000 ? . per annum in the hands of one man would pay much less to the State than the same income divided amongst 10 or 20 men ; and a much smaller proportion of his enjoyments or subsistence would be derived from taxable articles than others .

    If small incomes are taxed , then labour is taxed , and incomes often insufficient for the wants of the tax payer are diminished still more . If these incomes are not taxed , then a large part of the total income of the country escapes taxation to the unfair burdening of the rest . A tax on gross income is a tax on wages—that is , a tax on labour—eventually a tax on consumption . But , say some , so is all taxation , whatever its name and form , an indirect tax on labour , for it always

    eventually falls on labour . But even if it were so ( which is not here either asserted or denied ) , it is yet a vast question who shall find the ready money for the taxes , they who have possessions , or they who have none ? A tax on all incomes , so rigorously universal as to be just to all , would force ready money from those who often have neither necessaries nor credit . Let the well-to-do pay it , and they will gain much more than a compensation for the advance ( if it be an advance ) by thus setting at liberty the consumption and industry of

    the working classes . It is only to avoid the obvious danger of directly taxing , according to their consumption , those who labour , that taxes , deceptively called indirect , have been invented ; these taxes do at least as much mischief as if they were openly exacted ; but they do it covertly . Promote consumption by removing taxes from income ; then production must advance . National welfare requires that we produce all we can either consume or exchange . Docs France , with her 36 millions of inhabitants , produce all she can , or the half of it ? Most assuredly not ; nor do her people consume more than half of the commonest necessaries of life which . they might do to advantage .

    But why tax income ?¦—because it is a measure of a man ' s means o # payment ? But how false a measure One man is a bachelor , without care but for himself ; another , with the same income , has three or four children to educate and provide for . How can income , alone , then , be a true measure of the means any man possesses of contributing without inconvenience to the expenses of the State ? Jf income is to be taxed at all , it wbould be only on the superfluity , which is the measure of the excess of the income over the expenditure—that is , the wiving-But a tax on saving isin facta tax on property ; lor

    , , all present property was originally only savings . V \ o are thus led to the true fiscal basis . For the preference to be given to capital as the base of taxation , M . F . de ( Jirardin assigns reasons drawn chiefly from convenience and advantage . It woult impartially 4 nx all , persons , and be applicable to all things ; it would tax known and certain objects , u « t mutters of problematical existence and value . Its eon-Kequcnccs would be highly salutary : it would compel nl'UllrMrrn wwunt »* i > m ^ ' ¦ * j * - ¦¦ - ¦•••¦ -- j . idleit '

    capital to be active instead of , as now , ; w »«« thus promote industry and enterprise , it would cinancipate agriculture from the consequences of he in * , price of land which follows Iron , the competition capital necking idle investment , with the cultivator who would use the land as l . is own instrument o md ,. s ., i j , , capital , skill , and labour , under such . 1 system , wo l soon find truer relations than flume by winch tluy a ut present connected ; money would flow from qimiU-r . where it is now dormant to thoBO when , it « . made active with profit ; individuals would ho oblifec

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04121852/page/12/