what the expense of the sober and industrious | baked at the oven, take place in many coun poor, and must consequently raise more or tries. In Holland the money-price of the less the wages of their labour. bread consumed in towns is supposed to be doubled by means of such taxes. In lieu of a part of them, the people who live in the country, pay every year so much a-head, according to the sort of bread they are supposed to consume. Those who consume wheaten bread pay three guilders fifteen stivers; about six shillings and ninepence halfpenny. These, and some other taxes of the same kind, by raising the price of labour, are said to have ruined the greater part of the manufactures of Holland. Similar taxes, though not quite so heavy, take place in the Milanese, in the states of Genoa, in the duchy of Modena, in the duchies of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, and the Ecclesiastical state. A French author of some note, has proposed to reform the finances of his country, by substituting in the room of the greater part of other taxes, this most ruinous of all taxes. There is nothing so absurd, says Cicero, which has not sometimes been asserted by some philosophers.

In a country where the winters are so cold as in Great Britain, fuel is, during that season, in the strictest sense of the word, a necessary of life, not only for the purpose of dressing victuals, but for the comfortable subsistence of many different sorts of workmen who work within doors; and coals are the cheapest of all fuel. The price of fuel has so important an influence upon that of labour, that all over Great Britain, manufactures have confined themselves principally to the coal countries; other parts of the country, on account of the high price of this necessary article, not being able to work so cheap. In some manufactures, besides, coal is a necessary instrument of trade; as in those of glass, iron, and all other metals. If a bounty could in any case be reasonable, it might perhaps be so upon the transportation of coals from those parts of the country in which they abound, to those in which they are wanted. But the legislature, instead of a bounty, has imposed a tax of three shillings and threepence a-ton upon coals carried coastways; which, upon most sorts of coal, is more than sixty per cent. of the original price at the coal pit. Coals carried, either by land or by inland navigation, pay no duty. Where they are naturally cheap, they are consumed duty free; where they are naturally dear, they are loaded with a heavy duty.

Such taxes, though they raise the price of subsistence, and consequently the wages of abour, yet they afford a considerable revenue to government, which it might not be easy to find in any other way. There may, therefore, be good reasons for continuing them. The bounty upon the exportation of corn, so far us it tends, in the actual state of tillage, to raise the price of that necessary article, produces all the like bad effects; and instead of affording any revenue, frequently occasions a very great expense to government. The high duties upon the importation of foreign corn, which, in years of moderate plenty, amount to a prohibition; and the absolute prohibition of the importation, either of live cattle, or of salt provisions, which takes place in the ordinary state of the law, and which, on account of the scarcity, is at present suspended for a limited time with regard to Ireland and the British plantations, have all had the bad effects of taxes upon the necessaries of life, and produce no revenue to government. Nothing seems necessary for the repeal of such regulations, but to convince the public of the futility of that system in consequence of which they

have been established.

Taxes upon the necessaries of life are much higher in many other countries than in Great Britain. Duties upon flour and meal when ground at the mill, and upon bread when

Taxes upon butcher's meat are still more common than those upon bread. It may indeed be doubted, whether butcher's meat is any where a necessary of life. Grain and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheese, and butter, or oil, where butter is not to be had, it is known from experience, can, with out any butcher's meat, afford the most plentiful, the most wholesome, the most nourishing, and the most invigorating diet. Decency nowhere requires that any man should eat butcher's meat, as it in most places requires that he should wear a linen shirt or a pair of leather shoes.

Consumable commodities, whether necessaries or luxuries, may be taxed in two dif ferent ways. The consumer may either pay an annual sum on account of his using or consuming goods of a certain kind; or the goods may be taxed while they remain in the hands of the dealer, and before they are delivered to the consumer. The consumable goods which last a considerable time before they are consumed altogether, are most properly taxed in the one way; those of which the consumption is either immediate or more speedy, in the other. The coach-tax and platetax are examples of the former method of imposing; the greater part of the other duties of excise and customs, of the latter.

A coach may, with good management, last ten or twelve years. It might be taxed, once for all, before it comes out of the hands of the coach-maker. But it is certainly more convenient for the buyer to pay four pounds a-year for the privilege of keeping a coach, than to pay all at once forty or forty-eight pounds additional price to the coach-maker

Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. p. 210, 211.

Le Roformateur

cent.

or a sum equivalent to what the tax is likely tax piece-meal, as he can afford to pay it, to cost him during the time he uses the same and when he can afford to pay it, and coach. A service of plate in the same man- every act of payment is perfectly voluntary, ner, may last more than a century. It is and what he can avoid if he chuses to do so. certainly easier for the consumer to pay five Thirdly, such taxes would operate less as shillings a-year for every hundred ounces of sumptuary laws. When the licence was once plate, near one per cent. of the value, than to purchased, whether the purchaser drunk much redeem this long annuity at five-and-twenty or drunk little, his tax would be the same. or thirty years purchase, which would enhance Fourthly, if a workman were to pay all at the price at least five-and-twenty or thirty per once, by yearly, half-yearly, or quarterly payThe different taxes which affect houses, ments, a tax equal to what he at present pays, are certainly more conveniently paid by mo- with little or no inconveniency, upon all the derate annual payments, than by a heavy tax different pots and pints of porter which he of equal value upon the first building or sale drinks in any such period of time, the sum of the house. might frequently distress him very much. This mode of taxation, therefore, it seems evident, could never, without the most grievous oppression, produce a revenue nearly equal to what is derived from the present mode without any oppression. In several countries, however, commodities of an immediate or very speedy consumption are taxed in this manner. In Holland, people pay so much a-head for

tioned a tax upon bread, which, so far as it is consumed in farm houses and country villages, is there levied in the same manner.

subject to. They fall almost altogether upon what I call luxuries, excepting always the four duties above mentioned, upon salt, soap, leather, candles, and perhaps that upon green glass.

It was the well-known proposal of Sir Matthew Decker, that all commodities, even those of which the consumption is either immediate or speedy, should be taxed in this manner ; the dealer advancing nothing, but the consumer paying a certain annual sum for the licence to consume certain goods. The object of his scheme was to promote all the different branches of foreign trade, particularly a licence to drink tea. I have already menthe carrying trade, by taking away all duties upon importation and exportation, and thereby enabling the merchant to employ his whole capital and credit in the purchase of goods The duties of excise are imposed chiefly and the freight of ships, no part of either be- upon goods of home produce, destined for ing diverted towards the advancing of taxes. home consumption. They are imposed only The project, however, of taxing, in this man- upon a few sorts of goods of the most genener, goods of immediate or speedy consump-ral use. There can never be any doubt. tion, seems liable to the four following very either concerning the goods which are subimportant objections. First, the tax would ject to those duties, or concerning the parti be more unequal, or not so well proportioned cular duty which each species of goods is to the expense and consumption of the different contributors, as in the way in which it is commonly imposed. The taxes upon ale, wine, and spiritous liquors, which are advanced by the dealers, are finally paid by the The duties of customs are much more andifferent consumers, exactly in proportion to cient than those of excise. They seem to their respective consumption. But if the tax have been called customs, as denoting cuswere to be paid by purchasing a licence to tomary payments, which had been in use for drink those liquors, the sober would, in pro- time immemorial. They appear to have been portion to his consumption, be taxed much originally considered as taxes upon the promore heavily than the drunken consumer. A fits of merchants. During the barbarous family which exercised great hospitality, would times of feudal anarchy, merchants, like all be taxed much more lightly than one who en- the other inhabitants of burghs, were consi. tertained fewer guests. Secondly, this mode dered as little better than emancipated bond. of taxation, by paying for an annual, half-men, whose persons were despised, and whose yearly, or quarterly licence to consume certain gains were envied. The great nobility, who goods, would diminish very much one of the had consented that the king should tallage principal conveniences of taxes upon goods the profits of their own tenants, were not of speedy consumption; the piece-meal pay- unwilling that he should tallage likewise those ment. In the price of threepence halfpenny, of an order of men whom it was much less which is at present paid for a pot of porter, the their interest to protect. In those ignorant different taxes upon malt, hops, and beer, to- times, it was not understood, that the profits gether with the extraordinary profit which the of merchants are a subject not taxable directbrewer charges for having advanced them, may ly; or that the final payment of all such taxes perhaps amount to about three halfpence. If must fall, with a considerable overcharge, upa workman can conveniently spare those three on the consumers. halfpence, he buys a pot of porter. If he cannot, he contents himself with a pint; and, as a penny saved is a penny got, he thus gains a farthing by his temperance. He pays the

The gains of alien merchants were looked upon more unfavourably than those of English merchants. It was natural, therefore. that those of the former should be taxed more

and

heavily than those of the latter. This dis-made up between them another five per cent. tinction between the duties upon aliens and of which they were proportionable parts. those upon English merchants, which was The subsidy of 1747 made a fourth five per begun from ignorance, has been continued cent. upon the greater part of goods; from the spirit of monopoly, or in order to that of 1759, a fifth upon some particular give our own merchants an advantage, both sorts of goods. Besides those five subsidies, in the home and in the foreign market. a great variety of other duties have occasion. ally been imposed upon particular sorts of goods, in order sometimes to relieve the exigencies of the state, and sometimes to regu late the trade of the country, according to the principles of the mercantile system.

With this distinction, the ancient duties of customs were imposed equally upon all sorts of goods, necessaries as well as luxuries, goods exported as well as goods imported. Why should the dealers in one sort of goods, it seems to have been thought, be more favoured than those in another? or why should the merchant exporter be more favoured than the merchant importer?

That system has come gradually more and more into fashion. The old subsidy was imposed indifferently upon exportation, as well as importation. The four subsequent subsi The ancient customs were divided into dies, as well as the other duties which have three branches. The first, and, perhaps, the since been occasionally imposed upon partimost ancient of all those duties, was that up-cular sorts of goods, have, with a few excepon wool and leather. It seems to have been tions, been laid altogether upon importation. chiefly or altogether an exportation duty. The greater part of the ancient duties which When the woollen manufacture came to be had been imposed upon the exportation of established in England, lest the king should the goods of home produce and manufacture, lose any part of his customs upon wool by have either been lightened or taken away al the exportation of woollen cloths, a like duty together. In most cases, they have been was imposed upon them. The other two taken away. Bounties have even been given branches were, first, a duty upon wine, which upon the exportation of some of them. Drawbeing imposed at so much a-ton, was called a backs, too, sometimes of the whole, and, in tonnage; and, secondly, a duty upon all most cases, of a part of the duties which are other goods, which being imposed at so much paid upon the importation of foreign goods, a-pound of their supposed value, was called have been granted upon their exportation. a poundage. In the forty-seventh year of Only half the duties imposed by the old subEdward III., a duty of sixpence in the pound sidy upon importation, are drawn back upon was imposed upon all goods exported and exportation; but the whole of those imposed imported, except wools, wool-felts, leather, by the latter subsidies and other imposts are, and wines which were subject to particular upon the greater parts of the goods, drawn duties. In the fourteenth of Richard II., back in the same manner. This growing fa this duty was raised to one shilling in the vour of exportation, and discouragement of pound; but, three years afterwards, it was importation, have suffered only a few excep again reduced to sixpence. It was raised to tions, which chiefly concern the materials eightpence in the second year of Henry some manufactures. These our merchants IV.; and, in the fourth of the same prince, and manufacturers are willing should come to one shilling. From this time to the ninth as cheap as possible to themselves, and as year of William III., this duty continued at dear as possible to their rivals and competi one shilling in the pound. The duties of tors in other countries. Foreign materials tonnage and poundage were generally grant-are, upon this account, sometimes allowed to ed to the king by one and the same act of be imported duty-free; Spanish wool, for parliament, and were called the subsidy of example, flax, and raw linen yarn. The extonnage and poundage. The subsidy of portation of the materials of home produce, poundage having continued for so long a time at one shilling in the pound, or at five per cent., a subsidy came, in the language of the customs, to denote a general duty of this kind of five per cent. This subsidy, which is now called the old subsidy, still continues to be levied, according to the book of rates established by the twelfth of Charles II. The method of ascertaining, by a book of rates, the value of goods subject to this duty, is said to be older than the time of James I. The new subsidy, imposed by the ninth and tenth of William III., was an additional five per cent. upon the greater part of goods. The one-third and the two-third subsidy

and of those which are the particular produce of our colonies, has sometimes been prohibited, and sometimes subjected to higher duties. The exportation of English wool has been prohibited. That of beaver skins, of beaver wool, and of gum-senega, has been subjected to higher duties; Great Britain, by the conquests of Canada and Senegal, having got almost the monopoly of those commodities,

That the mercantile system has not been very favourable to the revenue of the great body of the people, to the annual produce of the land and labour of the country, I have endeavoured to show in the fourth book of this Inquiry. It seems not to have been more

favourable to the revenue of the sovereign; to something more than ten per cent. upon so far, at least, as that revenue depends upon what remains of that revenue, after deductthe duties of customs. ing what is paid away in bounties and drawbacks.

In consequence of that system, the importation of several sorts of goods has been pronibited altogether. This prohibition has, in some cases, entirely prevented, and in others has very much diminished, the importation of those commodities, by reducing the importers to the necessity of smuggling. It has entirely prevented the importation of foreign wollens; and it has very much diminished that of foreign silks and velvets. In both cases, it has entirely annihilated the revenue of customs which might have been levied upon such importation.

The high duties which have been imposed upon the importation of many different sorts of foreign goods in order to discourage their consumption in Great Britain, have, in many cases, served only to encourage smuggling, and, in all cases, have reduced the revenues of the customs below what more moderate duties would have afforded. The saying of Dr. Swift, that in the arithmetic of the customs, two and two, instead of making four, make sometimes only one, holds perfectly true with regard to such heavy duties, which never could have been imposed, had not the mercantile system taught us, in many cases, to employ taxation as an instrument, not of revenue, but of monopoly.

Heavy duties being imposed upon almost all goods imported, our merchant importers smuggle as much, and make entry of as little as they can. Our merchant exporters, on the contrary, make entry of more than they export; sometimes out of vanity, and to pass for great dealers in goods which pay no duty; and sometimes to gain a bounty or a drawback. Our exports, in consequence of these different frauds, appear upon the customhouse books greatly to overbalance our imports, to the unspeakable comfort of those politicians, who measure the national prosperity by what they call the balance of trade.

All goods imported, unless particularly exempted, and such exemptions are not very numerous, are liable to some duties of customs. If any goods are imported, not mentioned in the book of rates, they are taxed at 4s. 9d. for every twenty shillings value, according to the oath of the importer, that is, nearly at five subsidies, or five poundage duties. The book of rates is extremely comprehensive, and enumerates a great variety of articles, many of them little used, and, therefore, not well known. It is, upon this account, frequently uncertain under what arti cle a particular sort of goods ought to be classed, and, consequently what duty they ought to pay. Mistakes with regard to this sometimes ruin the custom-house officer, and frequently occasion much trouble, expense, and vexation to the importer. In point of perspicuity, precision, and distinctness, therefore, the duties of customs are much inferior to those of excise.

The bounties which are sometimes given upon the exportation of home produce and manufactures, and the drawbacks which are paid upon the re-exportation of the greater part of foreign goods, have given occasion to many frauds, and to a species of smuggling, more destructive of the public revenue than any other. In order to obtain the bounty or drawback, the goods, it is well known, are In order that the greater part of the memsometimes shipped, and sent to sea, but soon bers of any society should contribute to the afterwards clandestinely re-landed in some public revenue, in proportion to their respecother part of the country. The defalcation of tive expense, it does not seem necessary that the revenue of customs occasioned by boun- every single article of that expense should be ties and drawbacks, of which a great part are taxed. The revenue which is levied by the obtained fraudulently, is very great. The duties of excise is supposed to fall as equally gross produce of the customs, in the year upon the contributors as that which is levied which ended on the 5th of January 1755, a- by the duties of customs; and the duties of mounted to L.5,068,000. The bounties excise are imposed upon a few articles only which were paid out of this revenue, though of the most general use and consumption. in that year there was no bounty upon corn, It has been the opinion of many people, that, amounted to L. 167,800. The drawbacks by proper management, the duties of customs which were paid upon debentures and certifi- might likewise, without any loss to the pub cates, to L.2,156,800. Bounties and draw-lic revenue, and with great advantage to fobacks together amounted to L.2,324,600. In reign trade, be confined to a few articles only. consequence of these deductions, the revenue The foreign articles, of the most general of the customs amounted only to L. 2,743,400; use and consumption in Great Britain, seem from which deducting L.287,900 for the ex- at present to consist chiefly in foreign wines pense of management, in salaries and other and brandies; in some of the productions of incidents, the neat revenue of the customs for America and the West Indies, sugar, rum, that year comes out to be L.2,455,500. The tobacco, cocoa-nuts, &c. and in some of those expense of management, amounts, in this of the East Indies, tea, coffee, china-ware, manner, to between five and six per cent. spiceries of all kinds, several sorts of piece apon the gross revenue of the customs; and goods, &c. These different articles afford.

perhaps, at present, the greater part of the revenue which is drawn from the duties of customs. The taxes which at present subsist upon foreign manufactures, if you except those upon the few contained in the foregoing enumeration, have, the greater part of them, been imposed for the purpose, not of revenue, but of monopoly, or to give our own merchants an advantage in the home market. By removing all prohibitions, and by subjecting all foreign manufactures to such moderate taxes, as it was found from experience, afforded upon each article the greatest revenue to the public, our own workmen might still have a considerable advantage in the home market; and many articles, some of which at present afford no revenue to government, and others a very inconsiderable one, might afford a very great one.

High taxes, sometimes by diminishing the consumption of the taxed commodities, and sometimes by encouraging smuggling, frequently afford a smaller revenue to government than what might be drawn from more moderate taxes.

When the diminution of revenue is the effect of the diminution of consumption, there can be but one remedy, and that is the lowering of the tax.

When the diminution of revenue is the effect of the encouragement given to smuggling, it may, perhaps, be remedied in two ways; either by diminishing the temptation to smuggle, or by increasing the difficulty of smuggling. The temptation to smuggle can be diminished only by the lowering of the tax; and the difficulty of smuggling can be increased only by establishing that system of administration which is most proper for preventing it.

tity contained in it corresponded with that for which the duty had been paid. If be carried them to the public warehouse, no duty to be paid till they were taken out for home con sumption. If taken out for exportation, to be duty-free; proper security being always given that they should be so exported. The dealers in those particular commodities, either by wholesale or retail, to be at all times subject to the visit and examination of the custom-house officer; and to be obliged to jus tify, by proper certificates, the payment of the duty upon the whole quantity contained ir their shops or warehouses. What are called the excise duties upon rum imported, are at present levied in this manner; and the same system of administration might, perhaps, be extended to all duties upon goods imported; provided always that those duties like the duties of excise, confined to a few sorts of goods of the most general use and consump tion. If they were extended to almost all sorts of goods, as at present, public ware. houses of sufficient extent could not easily be provided; and goods of a very delicate nature, or of which the preservation required much care and attention, could not safely be trusted by the merchant in any warehouse but his own.

were,

If, by such a system of administration, smuggling to any considerable extent could be prevented, even under pretty high duties; and if every duty was occasionally either heightened or lowered according as it was most likely, either the one way or the other, to afford the greatest revenue to the state; taxation being always employed as an instru ment of revenue, and never of monopoly; it seems not improbable that a revenue, at least equal to the present neat revenue of the cusThe excise laws, it appears, I believe, from toms, might be drawn from duties upon the experience, obstruct and embarrass the opera-importation of only a few sorts of goods of tions of the smuggler much more effectually the most general use and consumption; and than those of the customs. By introducing that the duties of customs might thus be into the customs a system of administration as similar to that of the excise as the nature of the different duties will admit, the difficulty of smuggling might be very much increased. This alteration, it has been supposed by many people, might very easily be brought

about.

The importer of commodities liable to any duties of customs, it has been said, might, at his option, be allowed either to carry them to his own private warehouse; or to lodge them in a warehouse, provided either at his own expense or at that of the public, but under the key of the custom-house officer, and never to be opened but in his presence. If the merchant carried them to his own private warehouse, the duties to be immediately paid, and never afterwards to be drawn back; and that warehouse to be at all times subject to the visit and examination of the custom-house of ficer, in order to ascertain how far the quan

brought to the same degree of simplicity, cer tainty, and precision, as those of excise. What the revenue at present loses by drawbacks upon the re-exportation of foreign goods, which are afterwards re-landed and consumed at home, would, under this system, be saved altogether. If to this saving, which would alone be very considerable, were added the abolition of all bounties upon the exporta tion of home produce; in all cases in which those bounties were not in reality drawbacks of some duties of excise which had before been advanced; it cannot well be doubted, but that the neat revenue of customs might, after an alteration of this kind, be fully equal to what it had ever been before.

If, by such a change of system, the public revenue suffered no loss, the trade and manu factures of the country would certainly gair a very considerable advantage. The trade it the commodities not taxed, by far the greatest