the committee to bear in mind, that it will be proper to propose a reduction for all under 604. a year, and that the same modifications be admitted into this act as in the Assessed Tax bill-I mean the scale of income from 60l. to 200l. a year, and rising from a 120th part to a tenth. I mean on this account to assume a deduction of one fifth, and to state the taxable property at only twenty millions. I shall next proceed to state that part of income from land which belongs to the tenant. I propose to value every man according to his rent, making only a deduction for repairs. What I shall suggest for the further consideration of the committee, is three-fourths of the rack rent which the tenant pays to the landlord. The value of the income from land which belongs to the tenant I take at nineteen millions; the income to the landlord at twenty-five millions. Instead of deduct rent of land was stated at eight millions. In a subsequent period, in the beginning of this century, and in the reign of queen Anne, two writers of credit, Davenant and King, represented the rental of the land to be 14,000,000l. However they differed on other points, on this they both agreed, Posterior to that time it was a received opinion, that a land-tax of four shillings in the pound was equivalent to about two shillings of what would be collected on the real rents of the kingdom, which were stated to amount to twenty millions. Full twenty years ago this was said by a writer, who was also a member of this House, and who in a work he wrote, expressly recommended the very principle which I have submitted to the committee this day. The same estimate was stated, and the same opinion was countenanced, by the celebrated author of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith. He received it as a statement generally admitted, and suf-ing only one-fifth, as I have suggested ficiently proved, that the rent of the land with respect to the landlord, I shall proin the kingdom was twenty millions yearly. pose with respect to the tenant, to deduct In a work published as long ago as the two-thirds, leaving five millions as the year 1774, Mr. Arthur Young, who had taxable property of the tenants. The made agricultural pursuits his study, ad- next income arising from land, is an invanced the same opinion. I mention all come which is received neither by the these authorities, to show what has been landlord, nor by the tenant,-I mean supposed to be the amount of the rental what is received from tithes. This is an of the land at different periods. I have income enjoyed, either by lay impropriaalso had the advantage of other inquiries tors, or by the clergy. The statements made expressly by a body who have made of the amount of the tithes are different; the cultivation of the land their peculiar but I estimate the value of them to be province-I mean the Board of Agricul- five millions. If gentlemen suppose the ture. I allude more particularly to one amount of the cultivated land in the counreport published by a person who made try to be forty millions of acres, and the this part of the subject his study, the re- average value to be twenty-five millions, port drawn up by Mr. Middleton. All they will find my valuation to be very these, checked with other examinations, moderate: it is also Mr. Arthur Young's state the cultivated land of the country to statement. Upon this subject of tithes, I amount to little less than forty millions of propose to allow a deduction of one-fifth, acres. Any attempt to state what is the though perhaps I may be considered asstataverage value of these forty millions of ing the reduction too largely, but gentlemen acres, must be extremely uncertain. Many will consider the allowance to be made for persons most conversant on the subject be- poor livings-Another species of property lieve the average value to be fifteen shillings is that which arises from mines, and from per acre. I shall, however, take it at no shares in canals. There is also another more than twelve shillings and six-pence. property which I have not included in the I will put the average value at twenty-five rents of land, I mean the property arising millions a year. And gentlemen will see, from the sale of timber. I take all these that when I take the number of acres at three, the mines, canals, and timber, at forty millions, and the average value at three millions. Another species of rent only twelve shillings and six-pence per is that received for houses. I propose to acre, the result is only an increase of five proceed upon the rate which was followed millions beyond what it was twenty years in the act of last session. To establish ago, and that therefore I cannot be con- accurately the rent of houses has ever sidered as a sanguine calculator. low-been found impracticable, particularly of ever, in this part of the subject, I desire houses of the higher description of rent, which have always been undervalued. Out of 700,000 houses, 250,000 are calculated to pay to the assessed taxes; I shall therefore take the rent of houses at no more than six millions. In the early statements to which I have alluded, the profits gained by the professors of the law alone are estimated at one million and a half; I cannot suppose that they are at all diminished. Allowing, besides, for all the branches of the medical profession, I conceive that two millions is a very small sum as the amount of the incomes arising from the professions. Thus I think I may fairly estimate at five millions the whole produce of income arising beyond seas, and enjoyed by persons in this country. The next description of property is the income of persons not in trade. Under this head will be included annuities of all kinds, public and private mortgages, and income arising from money lent upon securities under various denominations. At the same time the committee will go along with me in seeing that, in estimating the general rental of the land of England, I have taken it with all its burthens, and consequently have included the mortgages. In the practical detail of the measure, it will come to be decided whether it shall fall on the land owner, or on the mortgagee. In respect, therefore, of this description of property, I do not now make any distinct estimate. With respect to private annuities of another kind, it is also difficult to ascertain their amount. Not so with regard to public annuities; we have no difficulty in ascertaining the exact amount of the annuities paid by the public to individuals, and I shall have no hesita. tion in submitting to the committee, that when a general assessment upon income is to take place, no distinction ought to be made as to the sources from which that income may arise. There can be no fair objection taken by the stockholder upon the occasion; there can be no question of a breach of good faith with the public creditor, by thus imposing upon him what every other subject of the realm is to incur. The public.creditor enjoys his security under the most sacred obligations of the state, and whenever an idea has been started of imposing upon the stockholders, separately and distinctly, any sort of tax, I have reprobated the attempt, as utterly inconsistent with the good faith of public The next head of income relates to the profits of retail trade: but there are persons of a certain description, with respect to whom it will be necessary to make some allowance. The reduction I shall propose to take at one-eighth of the nett sum of the profits of the trade of Great Britain, after which there will remain a sum of 5,000,000l. applicable to the general operation of the tax. There will then remain another article of taxation, which is the income spent in this country by persons who derive it from other parts of the world; and unquestionably all who reside in this kingdom, and draw their means from sources out of it, cannot be dissatisfied at contributing to their own support and protection. Of this description, the only persons I shall think it ne cessary to estimate are those whose incomes arise from their having property in Ireland, and who reside in this country, and persons owning estates in the West Indies, or receiving the interest of mortgages on estates in that part of the world. With respect to those persons whose incomes arise from Ireland, I believe it is the generally received opinion, that the property of persons of this description amounted to at least 1,000,000l., a considerable time since, and now, from the in-engagement. Parliament has always gone crease of rents, it may reasonably be esti*mated far beyond that sum. With respect to the incomes of estates in the West Indies, the total amount cannot be estimated at less than 7,000,000l. sterling, and far the greater amount is produced from the property of persons residing in Great Britain, who either own estates, or have mortgages upon them for which they receive interest. From that are to be deducted the amount of the exports carried out, and the charge of cultivating the estates in the West Indies; after which deduction, I estimate the produce of income in the West Indies at four millions, along with me in the feeling that no such tax ought to be levied upon them, and they have uniformly acted upon this feeling, on the principle, that, as the public creditors came forward and lent their money to the state in the moment of its necessity, while at the same time they bore, in common with every other description of his majesty's subjects, the taxes on consumption, they were to be secured against any imposts, distinctly levelled at them as annuitants of the public; and the parliament has felt this more particularly from the recollection of the duty which they owe to persons who had embarked so much, and identified themselves so intimately with the state. Against any direct tax upon the stockholder, then, I am sure the committee would set themselves in opposition; but the matter is materially reversed, when a tax is to be levied upon the income of every description of persons in the realm; when it is no longer in the power of the stockholder to say, I could avoid this tax by removing my property from the funds to landed security, or to trade; every argument against including him in the assessment is withdrawn. The protection yielded to the stockholder, is the same as to the landholder, the merchant, and the manufacturer. The duty, therefore, is the same, and every other description of persons in the country would have a right to complain, if, when they are called upon for a sacrifice of this extraordinary nature, so numerous a body of persons were to be exempted from the assessment. I am confident, therefore, that every gentleman who hears me, will agree that the principle of the measure is not liable to any imputation of breach of faith. It cannot be called a resumption of the annuity that has been granted to the public creditors, nor an infringement of the contract that was originally made with them. They are, in this instance, only to do that which every other body of men in the kingdom are to do; they are to make a sacrifice of part of their income to the necessities of the state, upon the principle of giving security to all which they possess. I should say to the stockholder, as one of the public, "if you expect from the state the protection which is common to us all, you ought also to make the sacrifice which we are called upon to make. It is not peculiar to you; it does not belong to the quality of your income; but it is made general, and required from all; you could not embark your capital in any other species of security in which it would not be subject to the same charge." I do not know what objection the stockholder could make to this appeal. I include, therefore, the public annuitants in the view of the proposed tax, and there is no difficulty in estimating the amount of this species of income. At the same time, it is to be taken into consideration, that all that part of the public annuities which have been redeemed by the nation, is to be exempted from the charge of the tax. Taking the amount of the redemption, therefore, at what it now appears to be, the rental of the public annuitants may be estimated at 15,000,000l.; but here, as in all the other cases, both of the land and rental, and of other sources of property, there will, of course, be admitted the same exemptions to all annuitants who have less than 60l. a year, and the same modifications to all who possess from 60l. to 200l. a year. At the same time it is to be considered, that these exemptions and modifications are only to apply to those individuals whose whole income amounts to less than 2001. a year. If persons possess incomes from various sources, they are to be calculated in the aggregate; for the exemption or the modification will not apply, if the whole income should not be under the stipulated sum. I am sure, that I shall over-rate the amount of these exemptions and modifications, when I deduct one-fifth from the sum that I have stated the public annuities to be; but I do not admit that deduction, and therefore state the total of the income from the public funds at 12,000,000%. There now remain the other great sources of trade to the inhabitants of this country;-the produce of trade, foreign and domestic: and this branch of income is, in its nature, more difficult of estimate than any other. We have, however, lights and aids by which we may come to a knowledge of a material part, at least, of this source of national wealth, I mean the produce of our foreign trade. The capital employed in this way is certainly not less than 80,000,000l. sterling. Assuming this as the capital, the next question is, what we ought to take as the profit to all the description of persons employed in carrying on this branch of our trade? In estimating this, we must necessarily include in our view, not merely the merchant who exports, but all the orders and descriptions of persons from the manufacturer upwards, who are in any way connected with our export trade. Under this head come in the profits of brokerage, wharfage, and carriage, with all the other contributory trades connected with foreign commerce; and I am sure I make a moderate calculation, when I estimate the average of the profits upon the capital of 80,000,000l. at 15 per cent. I take, therefore, 12,000,000, as the income of all the persons connected with the foreign trade of this kingdom. Therenow remains that which more than any other branch of our income baffles the power of scrutiny, and affords even very limited grounds for conjecture: I mean the profits arising from domestic trade and manufacture. Here the many descriptions of persons whose skill and industry are the source of income in all the progress of our arts and manufactures, from the first preparation of the rude and raw material to its state of perfection, serve to make calculation almost impossible from their variety and extent. Even here, however, we have some means of forming an idea. Of the general capital of 80,000,000l. employed in the foreign trade, it has been pretty accurately determined, that about 30,000,000l. are destined and employed in the export of the leading manufactures of England. I am sure, then, that the committee will go along with me in saying, that the amount of the capital and sum employed in internal [and of national profits, from which we fifth ... Tenant's rental-of land, deducting two-thirds of the rack rent........ Tythes, deducting one-fifth...... Mines, canal-navigation, &c. deducting one-fifth .... Rental of houses, deducting one fifth £. 20,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 5,000,000 2,000,000 Profits of professions ... ...... our foreign commerce 5,000,000 12,000,000 12,000,000 28,000,000 In all £102,000,000 Upon this sum a tax of 10 per cent is trade must be four times the amount of our export of British manufactures. When we look at the vast machine of trade in all its parts, let any gentleman ask himself whether, in the woollen manufactures, cotton, linen, hardware, pottery, and in all the other great and leading branches of manufacture, there can be a less sum employed than four times the amount of that which is appropriated by the merchant for the purposes of exportation? Viewing all the enormous capital invested in domestic manufacture, I cannot take it at less than 120,000,000/. and upon this capital I estimate the gain at no more than 15 per cent, making a sum of 18,000,000l. per annum of income.-likely to produce 10,000,000l. a year, and There is one other description of income which, though it embraces a vast variety of individuals, is reducible to none of the former heads, but comes naturally to be included in the article of domestic trade; I mean artisans, architects, brewers, distillers, builders, brickmakers, masons, carpenters, and all that innumerable class of persons who, by skill in their professions, draw their incomes from the general prosperity of the country. The committee will at once perceive how numerous and how varied this class of persons must be, and how impossible it is to arrive at an accurate criterion of the general amount of their gains. I am sure, however, they will agree with me that I understate it, when I take it at 10,000,000l. per annum. I thus estimate the whole amount of our internal manufactures and trade at 28,000,000l. a year. I have thus rapidly gone through all the distinct branches of national rental, [VOL. XXXIV.] this is the sum at which I shall assume it. Now, supposing that ten millions is the sum thus collected, gentlemen will recollect that, in the last session of parliament, the assessed taxes were the only part of the public resources which were mortgaged for the sum of 8,000,000/ borrowed for the public service in 1797. I should think, therefore, that the sum now proposed to be raised in lieu of the assessed taxes, should, after its appropriation to the supplies of the present year, remain as a pledge for the discharge of that sum for which the assessed taxes were a security, and also for the discharge of the loan of the present year, beyond what will be paid out of the sinking fund. Taking the assessed taxes at four millions, they would have been mortgaged for two years after peace; and thus the advantage of this measure is this, that no greater sums will be raised on any individuals than those which have been hitherto paid, at [C] least by such as have rendered the measure | fund, consequently 94 millions is the whole of the legislature effectual; they will be sum to be added to the national debt. I wish, relieved of a greater than a proportional therefore to lay this down as a principle, share of their burthen, and the duration that 9 millions is the sum to be raised this of the burthen will not be half the time. year, for which I should propose to charge But it does not stop here; it looks anxi- as a mortgage the income tax, after disously to the alleviation of the burthens of the charging the former mortgage. After encountry, by a great temporary exertion; it larging upon the benefits likely to result looks to the equality of the tax, and the ge- from the measure of raising a considerable 'neralefficacy of the measure, conscious that portion of the supplies within the year, on them depends our success in the great the right hon. gentleman concluded with cause in which we are engaged.-In the moving the following Resolutions: mode of applying the sum now to be raised, there are different ways. The sum which the assessed taxes were applied to discharge amounted last year to eight millions; it would be only to borrow a sum equal to the debt to supply the deficiency; but it occurs to me, that a more simple and direct mode is, to apply this sum, in the first instance, to the supplies of the year, but at the same time to enact, that the tax shall continue till it has discharged the Idebt for which the assessed taxes were that so much of an act made in the last ses1. "That it is the opinion of this committee, sion of parliament, intituled, An Act for granting to his Majesty an Aid and Contribution for the Prosecution of the War,' as charges any person with an additional duty in proportion to the amount of the rates or duties to which, prior to the 5th day of April, 1798, such person was assessed, according to any assessment made in pursuance of any act of parliament in force at the time of passing the said act of the last session, be repealed. 2. "That it is the opinion of this committee, that, towards raising the supply granted to his majesty, there be charged annually, during a term to be limited, the several rates and duties following, upon all income arising from property in Great Britain, belonging to any of his majesty's subjects, although not come of every person residing in Great Briresident in Great Britain; and upon all intain, and of every body politic or corporate, or company, fraternity, or society of persons, whether corporate or not corporate, in Great Britain, whether any such income shall arise from lands, tenements, or hereditaments, wheresoever the same shall be situated in Great Britain, or elsewhere; or from any kind of personal property, or other property whatment, trade, or vocation; that is to say, ever; or from any profession, office, employ "One one-hundred-and-twentieth part of such income, if the same shall amount unto 60l. per annum, and shall be under 651. per annum. "One ninety-fifth part of such income, if the same shall amount to 657. but shall be under 70%. the same shall amount to 70%. but shall be "One seventieth part of such income, if under 751. "One sixty-fifth part of such income, if the same shall amount to 751. but shall be under 801. "One sixtieth part of such income, if the same shall amount to 80%. but shall be under 851. and "One fifty-fifth part of such income, if the same shall amount to 85%, but shall be under 901. "One fiftieth part of such income, if the same shall amount to 90%. but shall be under 951. |