clergy, yields to the British mode of taxing the land itself, and not its product; but is lefs exceptionable than the land-tax in France, because it is not arbitrary. The Chinese tax, paid in kind, is ftored in magazines, and fold from time to time for maintaining the magiftrates and the army, the furplus being remitted to the treafury. In cafe of famine, it is fold to the poor people at a moderate price. In Tonquin, there is a land-tax, which, like that in France, is laid upon the peafants, exempting people of condition, and the literati in particular. Many grounds that bear not corn, contribute hay for the king's elephants and cavalry; which the poor peasants are obliged to carry to the capital, even from the greatest distance; a regulation no lefs flavish than impolitic.

The window-tax, the coach-tax, and the plate-tax, come under the present head, being taxes upon things not confumable. In Holland there is a tax on domeftic fervants, which deferves well to be imitated. Vanity in Britain, and love of show, have multiplied domestics, far beyond neceffity, and even beyond convenience. A number of idlers collected in a luxurious family, become vitious and debauched; and many useful hands are withdrawn from husbandry and manufactures. In order that the tax 'may reach none but the vain and fplendid, thofe who have but one fervant pay nothing: two domeftics fubject the mafter to five fhillings for each, three to ten fhillings for each, four to twenty fhillings, five to forty fhillings, and fo on in a geometrical progreffion. In Denmark, a farmer is taxed for every plough he ufes. If the tax be intended for difcouraging extenfive farms, it is a happy contrivance, agreeable to found politics; for fmall farms tend not only to population, but to rear a temperate and robust species of men, fit for every fort of labour.

Next of taxes upon things confumable. The taxes that appear the least oppreffive, becaufe difguifed,, are what are laid on our manufactures :

manufactures: the tax is advanced by the manufacturer, and drawn from the purchafer as part of the price. In Rome a tax was laid upon every man who purchased a flave. It is reported by fome authors, that the tax was remitted by the Emperor Nero; and yet no alteration was made, but to oblige the vender to advance the tax. Hear Tacitus on that subject (a). "Vectigal

66

quintæ et vicefimæ venalium mancipiorum remiffum, fpecie magis quam vi; quia cum venditor pendere juberetur, in partem pretii emptoribus accrefcebat *." Thus, with respect to our taxes on foap, fhoes, candles, and other things confumable, the purchaser thinks he is only paying the price, and never dreams that he is paying a tax. To fupport the illufion, the duty ought to be moderate: to impofe a tax twenty times the value of the commodity, as is done in France with refpect to falt, raifes more disgust in the people as an attempt to deceive them, than when laid on without difguife. Such exorbitant taxes, which are paid with the utmost reluctance, cannot be made effectual but by fevere penalties, equal to what are inflicted on the most atrocious criminals; which has a bad effect with refpect to morals, as it tends to leffen the horror one naturally conceives at great crimes.

Such taxes are attended with another fignal advantage: they bear a strict proportion to the ability of the contributors, the opulent being commonly the greatest confumers. The taxes on coaches and on plate are paid by men of fortune, without loading the industrious poor; and on that account are highly to be

• "The tax of a twenty-fifth upon flaves to be fold, was remitted more in ap"pearance than in reality; becaufe when the feller was ordered to pay it, he laid "it upon the price to the buyer."

(a) Annal. lib. 13.

praised:

praised being impofed however without difguife, they are paid with more reluctance by the rich, than taxes on confumption are by the poor.

I add one other advantage of taxes on confumption. They are finely contrived to connect the interest of the fovereign with that of his fubjects; for his profit arifes from their profperity.

Such are the advantages of a tax on confumption; but it must not be praised, as attended with no inconvenience. The retailer, under pretext of the tax, raises the price higher than barely to indemnify himself; by which means the tax is commonly doubled upon the confumer. The inconvenience however is but temporary. "Such extortion," fays Davenant, cannot last

long; -for every commodity in common ufe finds in the mar"ket its true value and price."

There is another inconvenience much more diftreffing, because it admits not a remedy, and because it affects the state itself. Taxes on confumption, being commonly laid on things of the greatest use, raise a great fum to the public, without much burdening individuals; the duty on coal, for example, on candle, on leather, on foap, on falt, on malt, and on malt-liquor. These duties however carry in their bofom a flow poifon, by raising the price of labour and of manufactures. De Wit observes, that the Dutch taxes upon confumption have raised the price of their broad cloth forty per cent.; and our manufactures by the fame means are raised at least thirty per cent. Britain has long laboured under this chronical diftemper, which, by excluding her from foreign markets, will not only put an end to her own manufactures, but will open a wide door to the foreign, as fmuggling cannot be prevented where commodities imported are much cheaper than our

own.

Nor ought it to be overlooked, that taxes on confumption are not equally proper in every situation. They are proper in a popu

lous

lous country, like Holland; because the expence of collecting is but a trifle, compared with the fums collected. But in a country thinly peopled, fuch taxes are improper; because the expence of collecting makes too great a proportion of the fums collected: in the highlands of Scotland, the excise on ale and spirits defrays not the expence of levying; the people are burdened, and the government is not fupported.

A lottery is a fort of tax different from any that have been mentioned. It is a tax, of all the most agreeable, being entirely voluntary. An appetite for gaming, inherent even in favages, prompts multitudes to venture their money in hopes of the highest prize; tho' they cannot altogether hide from themselves the inequality of the play. But lucky it is, that the selfish paffions of men can be made fubfervient to the public good. Lotteries however produce one unhappy effect: they blunt the edge of industry, by directing the attention to a more compendious method of gain. At the fame time, the money acquired by a lottery, feldom turns to account; for what comes without trouble, goes commonly without thought.

SECT. IV.

MANNER OF LEVYING TAXES.

O

To avoid the rapacity of farmers, a mild government will, in most cafes, prefer management; i. e. it will levy taxes by officers appointed for that purpose. Montesquieu (a) has handled that point with his ufual sprightly elegance.

(a) L'Esprit des loix, liv. 13. ch. 19

Importation

ment.

Importation-duties are commonly laid upon the importer before the cargo is landed, leaving him to add the duty to the price of the goods; and the facility of levying, is the motive for preferring that method. But is it not hard, that the importer should be obliged to advance a great fum in name of duty, before drawing a fhilling by the fale of his goods? It is not only hard, but grossly unjust for if the goods perifh without being fold, the duty is loft to the importer; he has no claim against the public for restitution. This has more the air of defpotism than of a free governWould it not be more equitable, that the goods fhould be lodged in a public warehouse, under cuftody of revenue-officers, the importer paying the duty as goods are fold? According to the prefent method, the duty remains with the collector three years, in order to be repaid to the importer, if the goods be exported within that time: but by the method propofed, the duty would be paid to the treasury as goods are fold, which might be within a month from the time of importation, perhaps a week; and the treafury would profit, as well as the fair trader. There are public warehouses adjoining to the customhoufe of Bourdeaux, where the fugars of the French colonies are deposited, till the importer finds a market; and he pays the duty gradually as fales are made. It rejoices me, that the fame method is practised in this island with respect to fome foreign articles necessary in our trade with Africa: the duty is not demanded till the goods are shipped for that continent. It is alfo put in practice with refpect to foreign falt, and with respect to rum imported from our fugar-colonies.

Befide the equity of what is here propofed, which relieves the importer from advance of money, and from rifk, many other advantages would be derived from it. In the first place, the merchant, having no occafion to reserve any portion of his capital for anfwering the duty, would be enabled to commence trade with a

fmall