Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 16th October 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 995, Untitled Article

Page 995
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      emigration may produce a measure of the same effect Land itself , indeed , is permanent ; but the value , and even t he ownership , of land , are amongst the most refined of social results . Such are the difficulties of principle , to say the least of t hem , which Mr . Babbage and others let in . by assuming that income is a true gauge of property—an assumption wholly unsupported , we think wholly untrue and we hope to show wholly unnecessary for any

      practical purpose . Mr . Babbage , indeed , himself says , « I think it would be impossible to get the real incomes of all parties" ( 5450 ) . We can then hardly suppose that any practical difficulties would be much diminished by adopting this mistaken " approximation" to the value of property . ISTor do . we see why we should still adhere to the principles , doubtful or absolutely false , which have been subsequently employed to sustain the unfortunate original assumption .

      The principle of Mr . J . S . Mill is , that equal taxation requires an equal sacrifice from all ( 5256 ) , and that , consequently , not only income , but wants , should be considered ( 5223 ) . He proposes to tax what a man may be fairly supposed to spend on himself out of a given income , and exempt the rest ( 5283 ); and he would further exempt some such amount as 50 / . per annum , on account of necessaries , which should not be taxed ( 5258 ) .

      It is difficult to see how Mr . Mill arrives at his principle that taxation should require an equal sacrifice from all , except by a kind of inversion of the vague and insufficient maxim , that Government should act for the equal happiness of all ; and so , anything which it docs subtractively to that happiness , ought to be to the cqunl disadvantage of all . Tin ' s is based on the principle that Government has the right , to some extent , to look into the happiness of ouch person , and the means by which he may choose to promote it . If this principle be traced to its consequences , we believe it will always be found to issue in a despotism bureaucratic and French , if not monarchical—a despotism none the better if it happen to be constitutional in its form and paternal in its designation .

      But how is taxation to be so regulated as to make it iin equal sacrifice for all ? One man has six children , and \ 00 l . per annum ; his quiet temperament and orderly habits would not permit 10 / . per annum to break his peace . His neighbour lias 500 / . a year , a spendthrift son , and a horrible temper . Five pounds a Year would be just so much added to his debts , and a wore trial of his patience . Mr . Mill does not propose any plans by which the seemingly impracticable standard of " equal sacrifice" can be made available .

      « lr . Mill , however , may mean by the term , that equal pecuniary sacrifice which might be said to result from temporary incomes being untaxed for the amount requisite to accumulate the means of affording an income e qual to the remainder on the termination of the period of enjoyment . This , if practicable , would put them on an equal footing with permanent incomes , and f ; " perhaps the sacrifice bo said to be equal to each kind . Hut . here , again , equality us to the effect on the owners

      impossible One income is for life , another for a ii'rin o ( years , another during the pleasure or prosperity <> i employers , another during health and favouring circumstances . Mr . Mill gue . sses the fair proportion of ( ''"ininal » l <> uniform incomes to be f . ixed at three'" inlhs , professional incomes at one half , while those ' ' om land and other permanent sources are taken at lll ( 'iMull . n ,, fc |] 10 necessity <> f guess in the very first s ¦* ' !• "i the application of a , great , principle , is not very " . ssuriiio- ils ( , „ ; js . Homidness .

      ' » tax so regulated , like any other tax on income , ' ¦' ¦ 'lie fatal objection of not following the proportion 111 wI 'i < "h the tax-payer occasions cost to his fellows . A ¦'" with a , large property , although it yield no income , ^ much requires for the time the protection of the , ' . ' as ' who has an equally large property , and Vls ¦ ' great income from if . lint if he does not lM '" N share of tilt ; cost ,, others must lie unduly bur-< l ( " | ' > pi < V if for him .

      )( j . '" «""¦ point we agree , with Mr . Mill . Thut portion , ' , „ ., "" ""¦ ( > " "' which is saved is twice taxed if taxed as II . ' ' ' ' 't . is first , faxed directly as income , and ) i ' 1 ' ' '" directl y , to ( . he same extent , really , by the lax 4 ,,. - " . "I () UU ! derived from it as invested capital . This j K 'null , seems inherent in Mir nature of an income W > ' ' '¦' n '"''' ' ° '"' P ' nted from it , by any contrivance . ' U | 'l show hereafter bow another ' princip le , of faxa'"» ' > avoitls if .

      laxi ' . r I'iniHelf virtuall y admits the principle ol lai-T ! | V ! IM 1 ( ' <> f tbo property when lie advocates a land ' "" ° " Hl 1 ( Vt ( SHmMH . »» d ( 5-i . lil ) nays be would tax 1 "Niiiiy other saleable property . lie adds , » What-, | u * ' " - vic-tl I would levy on the saleable valut ! ; ,,,, | , 1 (! |> ' estimating dilferent kinds of property l )(! '''' lerent , but what it would m-11 for I would

      tax . " He seems to have been led away from the obvious justice and practicability of the same principle in reference to annual taxation , by not observing that income is no test of the value of the property protected , nor of the cost of protecting it , nor even of enjoyment or sacrifice . Our position then being , that property , not income , is the true object of taxation , we set aside all questions and differences as to particular modes of taxing income . To us those questions seem to lead to false conclusions or to none ; and if income is not to be taxed at all , it is of little use to follow out the several opinions as to the mode of taxrno- it .

      Nevertheless , the evidence is in some points worthy of remark . Every officer of Government attests the difficulty of assessing the income tax , and the vast extent of evasion . Every theorist who starts on the basis of an income-tax , differs from every other as to the expediency and even the justice of diflerent modes of assessment . Every one has a plan ; but every plan is so full of difficulties and exceptions , as to lead to the strongest suspicion that not one of them has that characteristic of truth which is found in remaining consistent with all other truth . Incomplete and ill understood , if not absolutely untrue , seems every one of the plans the Committee had before it , the existing system included .

      In these debates , extraneous to our views , there is only one point in which we feel any interest . If an income tax is to exist , we trust it will be freed of the error by which all incomes are taxed alike . It has taken some trouble to disentangle the sophistries by which this harsh and uneven equality has been suggested and defended . An income which may terminate in an hour by accident , or by the revulsion of the overwrought power which earned it , has been said to be as

      good , while it lasts , as the income from acres or consols , and that it pays only while it lasts . But it is not income purely . It is , in part , a return of that capital of life and strength , and of instruction and experience , which will be eventually all rendered up sooner or later , the wasting source of these annual drafts of life coined into income . We have no interest in further pursuing this fallacy than to remark , that the system which could so lmifr have sheltered it must be itself fallacious .

      We revert now to our own plan , deferring for the present that part of it which consists in u personal tax . Our chief , if needful our sole , item of taxation is a uniform tax on all visible and tangible property , levied on the actual possessor for the time . We omit from the assessment all rights not accompanied by actual possession of their tangible object ; for tfieso rights , in all cases where they are true and realizable , are only representatives of property hold by others , and already taxed in their hands . Where the

      property they should represent has been lost or destroyed , there is nothing left for the Government to protect . Where these rights affect the products of future industry they will be taxed when they come to fruition . lint , there is nothing at present fo protect , or even to litigate , excep t , where the claim has some security on actual properly , or applies itself , with more or less of legal form and stringency , to sonic actual property already taxed . Omitting , then , the direct assessment of these rights , we would leave ! the several parties interested to adjust among themselves I . he ultimate incidence of the tax , as they do < hat of insurance , or of any oilier expense- attending the property . On this point an instructive case occurred in New York . Iveal properly was taxed under one set , of regulations ; personal property under another . Land , which hail already been faxed as land , paid tax again on ils mortgage : for the mortgage was taxed as personal property without , diminution of the original tax . This was complained of , and remedied . lint tin > ease , which seemed lo be special , is in fact generic ; and all debts and other intangible rights are , like mortgages , subtractions from the value of some material properly , more or less distinctly defined and appropriated , which if once faxed as properly is not . justly to be taxed again in the bands of the incunihranccr . It , has been objected to iflnx on capital , that it alleel . s the source , no ( , the fruit . lint a tax / iro / ior / im / rc / to the capital is not . necessarily a . lax paid oal ^/' capital . If the expenses of . the whole community be greater than ( ho annual profit , of I he whole community , the country i , s clearly not worth protecting ; if they be less , Ilit-n taxes are paid out of prolits all , houg h they be proportioned to capital . We have not , space to show , as it might bo shown , that , under the conditions implied in 1 . 1 ns discussion , luxation never can pormaiicnl . ly exceed the profits ; anil that fo suppose i | , to do so , necessarily supposes also another state of sociH y one of an exaggerated Kasforn type . Individual cases must be determined by individual judgment . If ( , nian have a concern whose profit is less than the tax on if , let him iiwL'c for himself whether it . is worth

      continuing , just as he would if the question were one of insurance instead of tax . We shall have occasion hereafter to show that the taxation of England , although one-half of it is not for current expenses , is less than even our annual savings after the tax is paid . " But , " says an objector , " a man may thus have a large income , and pay no tax . " Let him , then , have 1000 / . per annum , spending one half and saving the other . Every article he consumes by means of his expenditure has paid its tax , as property , during the whole term of its existence , or of its being under the protection of our Government , and he pays the tax in its price . As soon as he has consumed it , there is an

      end of the duty and at the same time of the expense of the state in respect of it . What he will next consume will equally have paid its tax , and he will equally repay it . Trace his loaf , his sugar , or his coat , to their origin , and it will be found that for so much as he may have spent in the year , he will have paid an exactly proportionate tax . The 500 / . per annum which he saves can escape taxation only by being locked up in the shape of coin , to the loss of " all the interest . Whether he employ it himself , or lend it himself , or entrust it to the responsible agency of a banker , it is profitless and almost worthless , unless employed as working capital , that is , property ; and as property it is taxed .

      Whether , then , a man save or spend , he is equally , certainly , and proportionately taxed : and if it be desired to tax income , there is no way in which it can be so certainly reached and so equitably assessed as by a tax on property ; but here he is taxed only once , whether he save or spend ; not , as by the income-tax , twice on that he saves . It is true that as to income such a tax is indirect ; but so a just tax must be ; for the direct relation of

      the Government is with property , not income . But even as an indirect tax on income , it has this advantage , that being distributed over all articles and all modes of action alike , it leaves choice of the disposal of income wholly unaffected and free . Moreover , being laid where the actual cost to the Government occurs , where it can be most safely and accurately assessed , and where it can be least easily evaded , it carries with it the least possible aggravation of its amount which the nature of thi ! ensn admits .

      Whether , then , we consider taxation in that primary and essential character which results from the direct relation of Government to property , or in the secondary and incidental one of its effects on income ( deemed by some , erroneously we think , its first and most important aspect ) , a uniform tax on fungible property alone , seems to us to conform closely to the requisitions alike of good policy and justice . We shall have to resume some of these considerations when we come to treat of assessment and collection .

      Untitled Article

      'lino n : run . Wk see an authorized contradiction in the I'hnr . t of a statement ; ( hat Messrs . . Jay and Co . had an interest in ( ho Oxford mid Birmingham Railway , recently opened with ho signal an aecideiil . I'Yoin the connexion of I lie naino of "Jay" wil . h thi ! great , mourn ' uxj establishment , in Regent-. street , it . was very natural ( o suppose that , that , ciniitont ; firm should take nn inleresl , in an v new railway . I fc appears , however , flint , tho Mr . « Jny , whose interest , in tho Oxford and Jiiniiingliani . Railway is contradicted , is a contractor for the execution ol" works : who would , no doubt , lie nnxioiiH to repudiate ( he particular connexion . Tho conlradict ion , therefore , does not nlVei't the beneficial inleresl , which Messrs . . ) ay nnd (!<> ., of Regent-street , must have in that line , as well as in so lnivuy other railways .

      Untitled Article

      October 16 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 995

      Untitled Article

      NOTU'KH TO COUKKHl'O . MMOVrS . \\ V , lir ;; 11 > > - ; 111 I he al trill ion of our Hath (' i > rrt'S |> imtliMit on I ho " Monilily of Woman ' s l \ i ;; lil : i" lo our nilo ; ih to Ilio ]> rintttn > 'i > nniiuiii < ' : il ion of ( Ik- urili-r ' s mono .

      Untitled Article

      << l ( i ; . \ l' I MM ' STK IAIi Kx II 1 UITION <) I ' lliKl . AND . 'I'lit ! Lord I / teulenanf of Ireland has received a , deputid ion from the ( Committee of the Great , Industrial Inhibition of IHoIi , to present n resolution , requesting him to represent fo I lie Queen the pride if would afford her Irish subjects if i-. lic would entru . il , to the Kxeeulive Management oftlw Great inhibition of IH . »;{ some of thi ! articles which she was pleased to exhibit in 1851 . Lord I < 4 > linl , on promised lo forward the resolution to the Queen , mid lo exert , bis own inlluence to obtain compliance , with the request ; and he added , that , " nothing should be wanting on his part to niako l . ht ! inhibition worthy of the country in all respects . " His Kxeelleney then inl . imn . led l , o I ho gentlemen proson ! , his desire lo visit the building during its course , of construction , anil it was at . once arranged that ho should be present on the occasion of the raising of tho first pillar , which is expected to fnke place in somo ton or twelve days from this date ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1852, page 995, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1956/page/15/