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 at the fame time has a bad effect with respect to morals, as it blends great and fmall crimes together, and tends to leffen the horror one naturally conceives at the former.

Such taxes are attended with another fignal advantage; they bear a proportion to the ability of the contributors, the opulent being commonly the greatest confu

mers.

The taxes on coaches and on plate are paid by men of fortune, without loading the industrious poor; and on that account are excellent: being impofed however without disguise, 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 intereft 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 3 A 2

price

price higher than barely to indemnify himself; by which means, the tax is commonly doubled on the confumer. The inconvenience however is but temporary. "Such extortion," fays Davenant, can

not last long; for every commodity in common ufe finds in the market its true "value and price."

There is another inconvenience much more diftreffing, because it admits not a remedy, and because it affects the state itfelf. Taxes on consumption, 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 maltliquor. Thefe duties however carry in their bofom a flow poifon, by raising the price of labour and of manufactures. De Wit obferves, 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

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. The Dutch taxes on confumption are exceedingly high; and yet neceffary, not only for defraying the expence of government, but for guarding their frontier, and above all for keeping out the fea! The industry however and frugality of the people, enable them to bear that heavy burden without murmuring. But other European nations have now acquired a fhare of the immenfe commerce formerly carried on by the Dutch alone. Their trade accordingly is on the decline; and when it finks a little lower, the heavy taxes will undoubtedly depopulate their country.

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

Scotland, the excife on ale and fpirits defrays not the expence of levying; the people are burdened, and the government is not fupported. I fufpect that the window tax in Scotland lies open to the fame objection.

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 a high prize; tho' they cannot altogether hide from themselves, the inequality of the play. But it is well, 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 mode 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.

SECT. IV.

Manner of levying Taxes.

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. Montefquieu (a) has handled that point with his usual sprightly elegance.

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 mode. 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 grofsly unjust; for if the goods perish without being fold, the duty is loft to the importer: he has no claim against the public for reftitution. This has

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

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