tors to no other inconveniency, besides always | two different circumstances; the demand for the unavoidable one of paying the tax. labour, and the ordinary or average price of provisions. The demand for labour, according as it happens to be either increasing, stationary or declining; or to require an increasing, stationary, or declining population; regulates the subsistence of the labourer, and determines in what degree it shall be either The ordinary In France, the stamp duties are not much complained of. Those of registration, which they call the Controle, are. They give occasion, it is pretended, to much extortion in the officers of the farmers-general who collect the tax, which is in a great measure arbitrary and uncertain. In the greater part of the liberal, moderate, or scanty. libels which have been written against the average price of provisions determines the present system of finances in France, the quantity of money which must be paid to the abuses of the controle make a principal arti- workman, in order to enable him, one year cle. Uncertainty, however, does not seem to with another, to purchase this liberal, moderbe necessarily inherent in the nature of such ate, or scanty subsistence. While the demand taxes. If the popular complaints are well for the labour and the price of provisions, founded, the abuse must arise, not so much therefore, remain the same, a direct tax upon from the nature of the tax as from the want the wages of labour can have no other effect, of precision and distinctness in the words of than to raise them somewhat higher than the the edicts or laws which impose it. tax. Let us suppose, for example, that, in a The registration of mortgages, and in ge- particular place, the demand for labour and neral of all rights upon immoveable property, the price of provisions were such as to render as it gives great security both to creditors and ten shillings a-week the ordinary wages of lapurchasers, is extremely advantageous to the bour; and that a tax of one-fifth, or four shilpublic. That of the greater part of deeds of lings in the pound, was imposed upon wages. other kinds, is frequently inconvenient and If the demand for labour and the price of even dangerous to individuals, without any provisions remained the same, it would still advantage to the public. All registers which, be necessary that the labourer should, in that it is acknowledged, ought to be kept secret, place, earn such a subsistence as could be ought certainly never to exist. The credit bought only for ten shillings a-week; or of individuals ought certainly never to depend that, after paying the tax, he should have ten upon so very slender a security, as the pro- shillings a-week free wages. But, in order bity and religion of the inferior officers of to leave him such free wages, after paying revenue. But where the fees of registration have been made a source of revenue to the sovereign, register-offices have commonly been multiplied without end, both for the deeds which ought to be registered, and for those which ought not. In France there are several different sorts of secret registers. This abuse, though not perhaps a necessary, it must be acknowledged, is a very natural effect of such taxes. Such stamp duties as those in England upon cards and dice, upon newspapers and periodical pamphlets, &c. are properly taxes upon consumption; the final payment falls upon the persons who use or consume such commodities. Such stamp duties as those upon licences to retail ale, wine, and spiritous liquors, though intended, perhaps, to fall upon the profits of the retailers, are likewise finally paid by the consumers of those liquors. Such taxes, though called by the same name, and levied by the same officers, and in the same manner with the stamp duties above mentioned upon the transference of property, are, however, of a quite different nature, and fall upon quite different funds. such a tax, the price of labour must, in that place, soon rise, not to twelve shillings aweek only, but to twelve and sixpence; that is, in order to enable him to pay a tax of onefifth, his wages must necessarily soon rise, not one-fifth part only, but one-fourth. Whatever was the proportion of the tax, the wages of labour must, in all cases rise, not only in that proportion, but in a higher proportion. If the tax for example, was onetenth, the wages of labour must necessarily soon rise, not one-tenth part only, but oneeighth. A direct tax upon the wages of labour, therefore, though the labourer might, perhaps, pay it out of his hand, could not properly be said to be even advanced by him; at least if the demand for labour and the average price of provisions remained the same after the tax as before it. In all such cases, not only the tax, but something more than the tax, would in reality be advanced by the person who immediately employed him. The final payment would, in different cases, fall upon different persons. The rise which such a tax might occasion in the wages of manufacturing labour would be advanced by the master manufacturer, who would both be entitled and obliged to charge it, with a profit, upon the price of his goods. The final payment of this THE wages of the inferior classes of work-rise of wages, therefore, together with the admen, I have endeavoured to show in the first ditional profit of the master manufacturer, book are everywhere necessarily regulated by would fall upon the consumer. The rise which ART. III.-Taxes upon the Wages of Labour. such a tax might occasion in the wages of of finances which was begun in 1748, a very country labour would be advanced by the far- heavy tax is imposed upon the industry of armer, who, in order to maintain the same num- tificers. They are divided into four classes. ber of labourers as before, would be obliged The highest class pay a hundred florins ato employ a greater capital. In order to get year, which, at two-and-twenty pence halfback this greater capital, together with the penny a-florin, amounts to L.9: 7:6. The ordinary profits of stock, it would be neces- second class are taxed at seventy; the third at sary that he should retain a larger portion, or, fifty; and the fourth, comprehending artificers what comes to the same thing, the price of a in villages, and the lowest class of those in larger portion, of the produce of the land, towns, at twenty-five florins." and, consequently, that he should pay less The recompence of ingenious artists, and rent to the landlord. The final payment of of men of liberal professions, I have endeathis rise of wages, therefore, would, in this voured to show in the first book, necessarily case, fall upon the landlord, together with the keeps a certain proportion to the emoluments additional profit of the farmer who had ad- of inferior trades. A tax upon this recomvanced it. In all cases, a direct tax upon the pence, therefore, could have no other effect wages of labour must, in the long-run, occa- than to raise it somewhat higher than in prosion both a greater reduction in the rent of portion to the tax. If it did not rise in this land, and a greater rise in the price of manu- manner, the ingenious arts and the liberal factured goods than would have followed from professions, being no longer upon a level the proper assessment of a sum equal to the with other trades, would be so much deserted, produce of the tax, partly upon the rent of that they would soon return to that level. land, and partly upon consumable commodities. The emoluments of offices are not, like those of trades and professions, regulated by If direct taxes upon the wages of labour the free competition of the market, and do have not always occasioned a proportionable not, therefore, always bear a just proportion rise in those wages, it is because they have to what the nature of the employment requires. generally occasioned a considerable fall in the They are, perhaps, in most countries, higher demand of labour. The declension of in- than it requires; the persons who have the dustry, the decrease of employment for the administration of government being generally poor, the diminution of the annual produce disposed to regard both themselves and their of the land and labour of the country, have immediate dependents, rather more than engenerally been the effects of such taxes. In ough. The emoluments of offices, therefore, consequence of them, however, the price of can, in most cases, very well bear to be taxed. labour must always be higher than it otherwise would have been in the actual state of the demand; and this enhancement of price, together with the profit of those who advance it, must always be finally paid by the landlords and consumers. The persons, besides, who enjoy public of fices, especially the more lucrative, are, in all countries, the objects of general envy; and a tax upon their emoluments, even though it should be somewhat higher than upon any other sort of revenue, is always a very popular tax. In England, for example, when, by A tax upon the wages of country labour does not raise the price of the rude produce the land-tax, every other sort of revenue was of land in proportion to the tax; for the same reason that a tax upon the farmer's profit does not raise that price in that proportion. supposed to be assessed at four shillings in the pound, it was very popular to lay a real tax of five shillings and sixpence in the pound upon the salaries of offices which exceeded a hundred pounds a-year; the pensions of the younger branches of the royal family, the pay of the officers of the army and navy, and a few others less obnoxious to envy, excepted. There are in England no other direct taxes Absurd and destructive as such taxes are, however, they take place in many countries. In France, that part of the taille which is charged upon the industry of workmen and day-labourers in country villages, is properly a tax of this kind. Their wages are com- upon the wages of labour. puted according to the common rate of the district in which they reside; and, that they may be as little liable as possible to any overcharge, their yearly gains are estimated at no more than two hundred working days in the year.* The tax of each individual is varied from year to year, according to different cir cumstances, of which the collector or the commissary, whom the intendant appoints to assist him, are the judges. In Bohemia, in consequence of the alteration in the system indifferently, from whatever revenue the con • Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. ii. p. 108. ART. IV.-Taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon every different Species of Revenue. THE taxes which it is intended should fall indifferently upon every different species of revenue, are capitation taxes, and taxes upon consumable commodities. These must be paid * Memoires concernant les Droits, &c. tom. iii. p. 87. tributors may possess; from the rent of their the superior courts of justice, the officers of land, from the profits of their stock, or from the troops, &c. are assessed in the first manthe wages of their labour. Capitation Taxes. CAPITATION taxes, if it is attempted to proportion them to the fortune or revenue of each contributor, become altogether arbitrary. The state of a man's fortune varies from day to day; and, without an inquisition, more intolerable than any tax, and renewed at least once every year, can only be guessed at. His assessment, therefore, must, in most cases, depend upon the good or bad humour of his assessors, and must, therefore, be altogether arbitrary and uncertain. Capitation taxes, if they are proportioned, not to the supposed fortune, but to the rank of each contributor, become altogether unequal; the degrees of fortune being frequently unequal in the same degree of rank. ner. The inferior ranks of people in the provinces are assessed in the second. In France, the great easily submit to a considerable degree of inequality in a tax which, so far as it affects them, is not a very heavy one; but could not brook the arbitrary assessment of an intendant. The inferior ranks of people must, in that country, suffer patiently the usage which their superiors think proper to give them. In England, the different poll-taxes never produced the sum which had been expected from them, or which it was supposed they might have produced, had they been exactly levied. In France, the capitation always produces the sum expected from it. The mild government of England, when it assessed the different ranks of people to the poll-tax, contented itself with what that assessment happened to produce, and required no compensation for the loss which the state might susSuch taxes, therefore, if it is attempted to tain, either by those who could not pay, or render them equal, become altogether arbi- by those who would not pay (for there were trary and uncertain; and if it is attempted to many such), and who, by the indulgent exerender them certain and not arbitrary, be- cution of the law, were not forced to pay. come altogether unequal. Let the tax be The more severe government of France aslight or heavy, uncertainty is always a great sesses upon each generality a certain sum, grievance. In a light tax, a considerable de- which the intendant must find as he can. If gree of inequality may be supported; in a any province complains of being assessed too heavy one, it is altogether intolerable. high, it may, in the assessment of next year, obtain an abatement proportioned to the overcharge of the year before; but it must pay in be sure of finding the sum assessed upon his generality, was empowered to assess it in a larger sum, that the failure or inability of some of the contributors might be compensated by the overcharge of the rest; and till 1765, the fixation of this surplus assessment was left altogether to his discretion. In that year, indeed, the council assumed this power to itself. In the capitation of the provinces, it is observed by the perfectly well informed author of the Memoirs upon the Impositions in France, the proportion which falls upon the nobility, and upon those whose privileges exempt them from the taille, is the least considerable. The largest falls upon those subject to the taille, who are assessed to the capitation at so much a-pound of what they pay to that other tax. In the different poll-taxes which took place in England during the reign of William III. the contributors were, the greater part of the mean time. The intendant, in order to them, assessed according to the degree of their rank; as dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, barons, esquires, gentlemen, the eldest and youngest sons of peers, &c. All shop-keepers and tradesmen worth more than three hundred pounds, that is, the better sort of them, were subject to the same assessment, how great soever might be the difference in their fortunes. Their rank was more considered than their fortune. Several of those who, in the first poll-tax, were rated according to their supposed fortune, were afterwards rated according to their rank. Serjeants, attorneys, and proctors at law, who, in the first poll-tax, were assessed at three shillings in the pound of their supposed income, were afterwards assessed as gentlemen. In the assessment of a tax which was not very heavy, a considerable degree of inequality had been found less insupportable than any degree of uncertainty. Capitation taxes, so far as they are levied upon the lower ranks of people, are direct taxes upon the wages of labour, and are attended with all the inconveniencies of such taxes. In the capitation which has been levied in France, without any interruption, since the Capitation taxes are levied at little exbeginning of the present century, the highest pense; and, where they are rigorously exacted, orders of people are rated according to their afford a very sure revenue to the state. It is rank, by an invariable tariff; the lower orders upon this account that, in countries where the of people, according to what is supposed to ease, comfort, and security of the inferior be their fortune, by an assessment which va- ranks of people are little attended to, capitaries from year to year. The officers of the tion taxes are very common. It is in general, king's court, the judges, and other officers in however, but a small part of the public reve nae, which, in a great empire, has ever been life; and custom nowhere renders it indecen drawn from such taxes; and the greatest sum to live without them. which they have ever afforded, might always have been found in some other way much more convenient to the people. Taxes upon Consumable Commodities. As the wages of labour are everywhere regulated, partly by the demand for it, and partly by the average price of the necessary articles of subsistence; whatever raises this average price must necessarily raise those wages; so that the labourer may still be able to purchase that quantity of those necessary THE impossibility of taxing the people, in articles which the state of the demand for laproportion to their revenue, by any capitation, bour, whether increasing, stationary, or deseems to have given occasion to the invention clining, requires that he should have. A tax of taxes upon consumable commodities. The upon those articles necessarily raises their state not knowing how to tax, directly and price somewhat higher than the amount of proportionably, the revenue of its subjects, endeavours to tax it indirectly by taxing their expense, which, it is supposed, will, in most cases, be nearly in proportion to their reveTheir expense is taxed, by taxing the consumable commodities upon which it is laid nue. out. the tax, because the dealer, who advances the tax, must generally get it back, with a profit. Such a tax must, therefore, occasion a rise in the wages of labour, proportionable to this rise of price. It is thus that a tax upon the necessaries of life operates exactly in the same manner as Consumable commodities are either neces- a direct tax upon the wages of labour. The saries or luxuries. labourer, though he may pay it out of his hand, cannot, for any considerable time at least, be properly said even to advance it. It must always, in the long-run, be advanced to him by his immediate employer, in the advanced state of wages. His employer, if he is a manufacturer, will charge upon the price of his goods the rise of wages, together with a profit; so that the final payment of the tax, together with this overcharge, will fall upon the consumer. If his employer is a farmer, the final payment, together with a like overcharge, will fall upon the rent of the landlord. By necessaries I understand, not only the commodities which are indispensibly necessary for the support of life, but whatever the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the lowest order, to be without. A linen shirt, for example, is, strictly speaking, not a necessary of life. The Greeks and Romans lived, I suppose, very comfortably, though they had no linen. But in the present times, through the greater part of Europe, a creditable day-labourer would be ashamed to appear in public without a linen shirt, the want of which would be sup- It is otherwise with taxes upon what I cal posed to denote that disgraceful degree of luxuries, even upon those of the poor. The poverty, which, it is presumed, nobody can rise in the price of the taxed commodities, will well fall into without extreme bad conduct. not necessarily occasion any rise in the wages Custom, in the same manner, has rendered of labour. A tax upon tobacco, for example, leather shoes a necessary of life in England. though a luxury of the poor, as well as of The poorest creditable person, of either sex, the rich, will not raise wages. Though it would be ashamed to appear in public with-is taxed in England at three times, and in out them. In Scotland, custom has rendered France at fifteen times its original price, those them a necessary of life to the lowest order high duties seem to have no effect upon the of men; but not to the same order of women, wages of labour. The same thing may be who may, without any discredit, walk about said of the taxes upon tea and sugar, which, barefooted. In France, they are necessaries in England and Holland, have become luxu. neither to men nor to women; the lowest ries of the lowest ranks of people; and of rank of both sexes appearing there publicly, those upon chocolate, which, in Spain, is said without any discredit, sometimes in wooden to have become so. shoes, and sometimes barefooted. Under neThe different taxes which, in Great Britain, cessaries, therefore, I comprehend, not only have, in the course of the present century, those things which nature, but those things been imposed upon spiritous liquors, are not which the established rules of decency have rendered necessary to the lowest rank of people. All other things I call luxuries, without meaning, by this appellation, to throw the smallest degree of reproach upon the temperate use of them. Beer and ale, for example, in Great Britain, and wine, even in the wine countries, I call luxuries. A man of any rank may, without any reproach, abstain totally from tasting such liquors. Nature does! not render them necessary for the support of supposed to have had any effect upon the wages of labour. The rise in the price of porter, occasioned by an additional tax of three shillings upon the barrel of strong beer, has not raised the wages of common labour in London. These were about eighteen pence or twenty pence a-day before the tax, and the are not more now. The high price of such commodities does See book i. chap. & ced price of such manufactures as are real not necessarily diminish the ability of the in- | price of manufactured goods; and always ferior ranks of people to bring up families. with a considerable overcharge. The advanUpon the sober and industrious poor, taxes upon such commodities act as sumptuary laws, and dispose them either to moderate, or to refrain altogether from the use of superfluities which they can no longer easily afford. Their ability to bring up families, in consequence of this forced frugality, instead of being diminished, is frequently, perhaps, increased by the tax. It is the sober and industrious poor who generally bring up the most numerous families, and who principally supply the demand for useful labour. All the poor, indeed, are not sober and industrious; and the dissolute and disorderly might continue to indulge themselves in the use of such commodities, after this rise of price, in the same manner as before, without regarding the distress which this indulgence might bring upon their families. Such disorderly persons, however, seldom rear up numerous families, their child. ren generally perishing from neglect, misma. nagement, and the scantiness or unwholesomeness of their food. If, by the strength of their constitution, they survive the hardships to which the bad conduct of their parents exposes them, yet the example of that bad conduct commonly corrupts their morals; so that, instead of being useful to society by their industry, they become public nuisances by their vices and disorders. Though the advanced price of the luxuries of the poor, therefore, might increase somewhat the distress of such disorderly families, and thereby diminish somewhat their ability to bring up children, it would not probably diminish much the useful population of the country. Any rise in the average price of necessaries, unless it be compensated by a proportionable rise in the wages of labour, must necessarily diminish, more or less, the ability of the poor to bring up numerous families, and, consequently, to supply the demand for useful labour; whatever may be the state of that demand, whether increasing, stationary, or declining; or such as requires an increasing, stationary, or declining population. Taxes upon luxuries have no tendency to raise the price of any other commodities, except that of the commodities taxed. Taxes upon necessaries, by raising the wages of labour, necessarily tend to raise the price of all manufactures, and consequently to diminish the extent of their sale and consumption. Taxes upon luxuries are finally paid by the consumers of the commodities taxed, without any retribution. They fall indifferently upon every species of revenue, the wages of labour, the profits of stock, and the rent of land. Taxes upon necessaries, so far as they aflect the labouring poor, are finally paid, partly by landlords, in the diminished rent of their lands, and partly by rich consumers, whether landlords or others, in the advanced In Great Britain, the principal taxes upon the necessaries of life, are those upon the four commodities just now mentioned, salt, leather, soap, and candles. Salt is a very ancient and a very universal subject of taxation. It was taxed among the Romans, and it is so at present in, I believe, every part of Europe. The quantity annually consumed by any individual is so small, and may be purchased so gradually, that nobody, it seems to have been thought, could feel very sensibly even a pretty heavy tax upon it. It is in England taxed at three shillings and fourpence a bushel; about three times the original price of the commodity. In some other countries, the tax is still higher. Leather is a real necessary of life. The use of linen renders soap such. In countries where the winter nights are long, candles are a necessary instrument of trade. Leather and soap are in Great Britain taxed at three halfpence a-pound; candles at a penny; taxes which, upon the original price of leather, may amount to about eight or ten per cent.; upon that of soap, to about twenty or five-andtwenty per cent. ; and upon that of candles, to about fourteen or fifteen per cent.; taxes which, though lighter than that upon salt, are still very heavy. As all those four commodities are real necessaries of life, such heavy taxes upon them must increase some A a |