Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

7 articles on this Page

INCOME TAX. I

News
Cite
Share

INCOME TAX. I The Times has shown that the tax is not the less un- just and vicious tor being, comparatively with what it has before been, small; and the Chronicle proves that, by making it temporary, its injustice is made ] greater:— "W e agree with Lord Brougham, with the limes, and indeed with almost every pel son tha has expressed an opinion on the subject, that it would be most unjust to tax income and property in the same proportion. The oriiy argument that can be used in answer to this—and it is one which we regard as -.vlioiiy itisti.Ti,: iciit- I that very admirably and tersely put by .Mr. Pitt in the second of those two remarkable speeches which lie made on the -Income Tax, when he first introduced it in 1798. Mr. Pitt, when he chose it, could speak nearly as well as Sir Hobert Pec I, though never so long. 'It is objected that it is unjust that the man, who has an annuity or an income the fruit of his labour, should pay in the proportion of a man wi,o has thd same revenue from fixed property. This objection is altogether a fallacy. A permanent estate, which is represented as never dying, and, as it were, the property of a man aftr his death, COli-I' tributes on every exigency which may occur; the in- come from labour and industry is extinguished; it con- tributes but once; it is no longer the property of the me person; while the other, which is c onsidered as the I same property, is subject to renewed demands.' But Sir Robert Peel's mode of laying on his Income Tax deprives him of the benefit of this argument. He lays it o!i "(ir three years only, as he says. A man with a three year's lease of an estate of on the I -whole, contribute just as much as a man with an estate in fee of the same amount. The estate of the first wiil expire at the end of three years; the estate of the-latter will last for ever after him; but the demand on it will expire 3t the same moment as on the former, because the tax will, according to Sir Robert Peel, cca?e at the end of the three years. Mr. Pitt's argument—the only argu- ment adducible for equal taxation on property and 1!1- come — is tenable only when the tax is permanent. But -when yon limit the tax to such a period as thrr-e years, it becomes quite clear that the permanent estates will bear the tax no-longer than the casual income that has only three yeari to The- Go-oindc at once pithily and powerfully describes "he effects of* the abhorred tax, which it is proposed to revive rather than to abel s'l the Corn Monopoly:—" It was necessarily preceded by an nrquisitorial inquiry into the whole state of man's pecuniary affairs. He himself was obliged to furnish the information the tax-gstherer I pried ir.to his affairs; bis neighbours were made spies on him and -the malignity 01 his enemies was teí1ll)ted t,) impeach his character and augment his burdens. The secrets o prosperity ad adversity were drilgcd hcti)re ¡ the publi large gains were ineonveniwitly published; heavy io ;ses and till more injuriously revealed. The tax 'A as a tix on distress, for men overcharged tiiemsehvs rather than acknowl-. dge that l tiifir fc.rtm.es were declining. It was a tax on enter- prise and industry, for it was. a tax in proportion to a man's gains, either accymul tted or accruing. It was a I tax on honety, operating as a premimr. on deceit, fin" while co scientioua and sensitive men thought to err on the right side by paying more than their due. the 1111- 'blushing scoundrel could save his pockctbyaiie. Till ¡ taxexpo&ed everv man to anxiety and scrupies, then left him open to informers, and finally subjected Ins fortune and character to ch* insolent injustice ,,f s't of political opponents or jealous neighbours, whom the choice oi the !1¡[illster bad given power to decide, without appeal, on the amount (" Ihis assessment. To every t pedes of irritation and pressure occasioned by taxation, and ispecially by direct taxation, the Property Tax, it- levied during the Wur, added its own peculiar heart- b; raings, and suspicions, and repinings, against injustic; a' d ot o:iiy took men's property for the purposes of the s ate, but uselessly destroyed a large additional amount 1 y i xposing men's affairs, impairing credit, and discou- rJg1i1 enterprise and accumul ition. Under an Income Tax (says the lUraminer) the rich i will always tinder-tax themselves, and the mipmsperou.s will add to their difficulties by over-taxing tnemselves to save their credit. It thus presses most injuriously on those who n it would be politic to tl eat most tenderly. On all sides there v.ill be annoyance and deceit. The injustice Ur¡¡p¡,:yi;i the same measure of taxation ,to in':ol1le" depending on the chances of professions or a?,(i 1c) i:icoi)it,, arising from SUhSiiWIJaJ pro- perty, is self-evident. Take from a man, who has five hundred a year for tlw "lIpport of a fatnily, three per cent. for three years, and yea have taken from him at the end of the time the .'i-iu part of his all, while from the -r.,ian having £ oi)0 a year worth thirty years' purchase, ten to one against the poorer man. The £ lo can be ill spared by either, but the one who lives on the interest of capital is not under the necessity of saving, and the other may have to keep up a small life insurance which the tax obliges him to give up, or, if he continue it, he must ,'for,go some of the modest comforts or the absolute necessaries of lite. It is easy to multiply examples of the injustice, nothing more being necessary than to imagine any case of precarious income, and to compare its treatment under an Income Tax with that of a per- manent property. The Bank Proprietors have set the example of bestir- ring themselves betimes in defence of their properties, by protesting against an assessment ot incomes so different in value as terminable alld permanent annuities. The same principle of objection runs throughout. Lord Brougham has wasted many words in arguing against an imaginary proposal, that the rich should be taxed at a higher rate than those who are in less affluent or in humhle circumstances; nothing of the k.nd is now con- tended tor,— the a gament is, that it is flagrantly unjust to subject incomes of thesame'ytarly amount, but of different values, to the same rate of taxation, and that a distinction should be made between the interests of annuitants, the recarious incomes ot professions, business, and trade, j and the sure incomes derived from substantial properties. We concur in these resolutions proposed by Lord Brougham "5. That it is expedient to make a distinction between income arisi. g from capital of every description and income arising from labour merely, levying a smaller jj proportion of the 1 uter income than the former. b'. That with tile same view it is expedient to make a distinctiun between income possessed b persons who have only an interest in the same far their lives, or for some lesser term, and income possessed bv ncrsnm: u-fm have an interest in the "capital from w hence the income arises, levying a lalger proportiOIl of the latter income th;m of rhe former. 7. That with the same vi?w it is expedient to make no distiction in favour of persons in the civH service ?f the state, or of persons receiving pensions froi'ii the 'tite' S. That it is neither consistent with justice nor with sound policy, to levy a greater proportion of tax upon larger incomes than upon smaller, and that an exemption of even the smallest incomes from the operation of the 't?xcan o dv be justified upon the supposition that their owners are wholly unable to pay it. In conf r nity with these propt?itinn<, Lord Bron?harn Wonh: re ommend that the income of the clergyman, the lawYt", t e do-tor, or the literary man should be taxed at c, e-t iird less than other classes that was, that they shou d p y, not three, but two per cent; for they had, in m st instances, no means to draw upon under (lifficultit-S, bIt were wholly dependent on their pro- fessional f xetlons. He should recommend also, if the hard necessity existed to raise such an alJlUllllt of taxation, -that they should impose i- per cent. on the first classes of holders of property which he had described, that tli, y might be ei'abied to give relief to the tenants occupying Lmd." Whether the due difference is effected by imposing a .(I;fft!i e.it rate, or by applying the same rate to the ditto: e i- values of the ineomes, taking them at their worth at so many purchase, comes, in effect, to the same thine. The ditficiil y of making the distinctions will be pleaded- but, as the }Utl[[S.lLlS:IY remarks- [ It is nonsen.se to talk of the difficulty of calculating fin I these varying Interests-the mistakes, the deceit, orthe unfairness, which would result from the attempt to do so The calculations wouid be found made to their hands for 'the most pant in the bo?ks of an insurance company; and giving them the utmost allowance of mistakes that the most blundering commissioner could perpetrate, we would defy them to equal the unfairness which would be the necessary, and, in such cases, universal, consequence of I the proposition as it now stands." It is quite a fallacy to suppose that an Income Tax oes not affect the poor, for the retrenchments in con- sumption which necessitates, abridge to the same extent the employment of labour. The Corn-law artificially limits the employment of labour for the supply of foreigners, and the Income Tax—at the price of which the Corn-law is coniii tied Oil it,: nishes the employment of labour at home, by diminishing the disposable means pf consumption. So rans the vicious c ircle, the generator ef curses. Letit not be supposed that we are adverse to direct taxation; fairly adjusted, there is no taxation so good; and amongst its advanta es is this, that the distinct knowledge which people have of what thev are paying to the State gives tbem an immediae and intense interest is public economy, and makes them prompt to restrain extravagance. Our hostility is to the direct taxation which is un qual, and then-fare unjust in its operation, taking the same amount from incomes widely differing in value, gaging, as it were, their superficies instead of their solidities, and subjecting the shallow slab and the substantial cube to the same deduction. In defence of the best scheme of this kind, n graduated property tax, it was once said. The proportioiis reiiiiiii "the same it is but like ukinj a storv from each house, leaving the relative magnitudes unchanged."—" True," was uie reply; D.uwnat becomes ot the houses ttiat have only one story ? r ou raze them to the earth." But an Income Tax: without graduation does worse, for it does not leave the proportions the same of those which it does not bring to the grour.d disproportions attend every part of its working, the substantial and permanent properties being slightly touched by it, but rhe small and precarious being made to hear very much morc than they can afford, and very much u ore than would fairly devolve on them. How much of this injustice, and more than this, might be mitigated, if not cured, by the simple exchange of transferring Sir R. Peers sliding scale-to the In'ome Tax, and the inflexible fixed rate of charge to the Corn Im- portation. The House of Commons having gone into Committee of ways and means, and the resolution for an income tax being now under consideration, it is impossible for the house, consistently with its present rules tc receive any petitios against that tax. This reult eviLiClitly, haent?e object sought by Sir Ro?.rtl?i in thu, hurrying on the committee. Though the House of no monger discusses the petitions ot the people, it neverthtJess dues tnem the honour to count their signatures. And Sir Robert Peel does not chjose that, even in this way, the mere number of those who arc a\.e.:>e to au income tax should be known. An income tax is bad enough in iLeJf; but Sir R. petd certainly o itrives to add to its intrinsic mischievousness by the violence of the; means to which he has rcvour^e for the purpose of imp >sin;_r it upon us. To carry such a measure without allowing the people to ex- press an opinion on it seems to us to be among the greatest outrages on the rights of the subject that any minister, with a servile majority at his back, has ever ventured to perpetrate since the revolution. We know that the rule of the House of Commons, that thus restricts the right of petiti ning, is defended by those politicians (and there are far too many of them in our day) who regard the public opinion as a mere ob- struction to the government, and would, a tiu as possible, prevent it being expressed- so. to inc invvnien: e our I ruler,. No tax, they do not scruple to tell lis, wv>uid ever be carried if petitions were r>.c lived against it; ana the > wise practice of Parliament has therefore been to stop petitioning at the very moment of considering taxation. These views are not only destructive of tree o-overn- ment, but grossly misrepresent the good sense and the good conduct of .)iir coLiti-Lrviiieti. NN'e are firnily of opinion that such is the general determination to support the honour of the nation and the eiffciency of the public- service, th t the country would have submitted without a niurmer to almost any other tax than an income tax. But even supposing that the views were.sound with re- gard to the general run of taxes, it would not hold good in the care ot so entire a change of the whole system of taxation, as will be introduced by the adoption of an in- come tax in time of peace. It now adopted, it is not go- in to end with a mere 3 per cent, and a three years' dura- tion. It is far more probable that the only change made at the end of three years, wdl be an augmentation of the per cenrage, and a riveting of this intolerable burden on our shouiuers by the abolition of the existing sources of revenue. It is not. too, as if this were really a new tax, on which the country had never before pronounced an opinion, and to which there was no reason for pprehending any oppo- sition. The country" ue it reedit-eted, has had experi- ence of this tax, and so favourable was the judgment to which that experience led. that of a vast number of very bid and very oppressive taxes, this was the one winch with one loud and general voice it singled cut as tne one first to be repealed. T here is every reason to be- lieve that it time were to be adowed fur an expression ot l opinion the same sentiments wouid be exoressed almost as generally, though not, ot course, with as much vehe- n)ence. by thatgeneration which never felt the smart of this fearful scourge. 11 is to silence the voice of antici- pated condemnation that Sir Hobert Peel prevents the voice of the people from being npard,and for ces Parlia- ment to come to a vote without time for reficction, be- cause reflection-would be sure to defeat him. de?:eat h i lr.. We can understand his course, violence and short- sighted as it is. But we cannot understand why he is allowed to pursue it, or at least to pursue it without op- position. V\ e should be the last to recommend to the Liberals of Pailiatm-nt a merely obstructive policy, or to delay the Ministertbr the mere sake of delay and annov- ance. But to delay bad measures until the country shall have the opportunity ot .speaking out, is a most justifiable obstruction. X o ensure it is one of the chief advantages ok a parLalllentilry opposition; and those who, on such a question, shrink from appealing to public opinion do not take the light course, if their object be that of either not long being in opposition, or that of serving their country while in opposition.— Chronicle. I f we are to enquire what are a man's real means, what lie alf,)rci -,A,c shall have to find out what is his station in society, his f..inily, his dependents, his necessary man- ner of life, and ten thousand other points which it is not to be expected, or indeed to be borne, that a government should investigate. Doubtless such au investigation is utterly impracticable. But, in the first place, because we cannot do all we might wish towards the fair (suppos- ing it fair) adjustment of an impost, arc we, therefore, precluded from doing what we can? No burden ever was or will be distributed with absolute fairness. Do we therefore let ic fall as it pleases? Of two lines equally arbitrary, do we refuse to take that which-pre- sents the nearest approximation to justice? Do we not try to get as near truth as all these collateral evils and advantages, claunsarid difficulties, will let us ? Of course when we cannot make such an approach, we don't; but when we can, we do and, whatever may be the impossi- bility of estimating the social and domestic claims which diminish a man's available income, there is no shadow ot difficulty ill assigning t;:c difference of vLil.,Ie betv;e(,ii i life interest and pepetlljty, We need go no further than the first insurance-office. But furtiier. Suppose (what it is indeed childish to suppose) that, because you cannot exactly (lefitic what each man can afford, you are not to attempt any ap- prOXIITlatlon toward" it. A man's ahility is not the only reason why his means should be the nieasnre 01 his pay- ments to government. There are many principles by which the in ode and measure of taxation are determined. »> e tax more freely what we wish to discourage—more sparingly what we cannot get at with or what will give ri- e to fraud andevasion; we tax persons in pro- portion as they can afford to pay—we tax them in portion as they derive benefit from the expenditure of the I'uuiiC revenue. If we have to raise money we raIse it wnere it will interfere with no public benefit, invite no general crime, where it can be enforced unItormly, can be paid without inconvenience, and is due to the nation in consideration of value rectivcd. Each of these advan- tages should have its weight in estimating the merits of any rival systens of taxation. The criterion which Sir Robert Peel has adduced in the present question—the possession of means-—involves both the last. This is a measure (imperfect, of course, but still a i-neaslire) of a man's ability to pay, and of the benefits which he ought to pay for. Jt shows at once his spending power, (as somebody calls it) and his stake in the country; and ac- cordingly a modified is more just than, au absolute in- come-tax, because it would throw the burden not only on those who can best support it, but on those who get a I l quul pro (lU') and 111 proportion as they get it. I he nch man receives from the State much protection, the poor man very little. The rich man receives protection tor his capital. his land, the transmission of his property, his homtf and fare gn markets, and ail those other rights which are the subject of English and international law. The poor man has nothing to protect but his person and hI, labour, and they pay proportionab'y. As is the case between tll rich and the poor, so is the case, in its de- gree, between property and income. For the fund- holder or landed proprietor, the State protects his princi- pal or landed estates; for the manufacturer, his looms and his printworks, as well as theprolitswhich he draws from them but fjr the physician or lawyer, only the I guineas which they receive day by day. Its guardian- snip embraces a Larger field; its security includes a deeper interest to the capitalist than the annuitant. Duration is j j as real an element in the value of property as amount; the source of future profits as truly under the protec- tion of the State as its present fruits; and, where no col- lateral hardship is involved, furnishes as true a ground f,, r increased taxation, where, as in the present instance' that sum is to be raised not by a permanent impose, but by a sudden and terminable demand.—Tinu-s.

i THE REASON WHY THE PREMIER…

[No title]

CARMAtrOSHISE SPRING ASSIZES.…

;¡. BBEØNSHIRE SPRING ASSIZES.I

IMPERIAL PABIIAUBST.

[No title]