PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 579 



also, the preference almost always shown, on the, part alike of 

 those who enact and those who pay taxes, for indirect taxation, 

 which very successfully blinds the taxpayer as to the amount 

 which he pays and as to the time and place of its collection ; and 

 hence, finally, the idea, which has come to be all but universally 

 entertained, that taxation per se is in itself an evil — something to 

 be avoided, if possible, and an escape from which is always " good 

 fortune." 



A QUESTION OP PRIME IMPORTANCE, therefore, which confronts 

 us at the outset in entering upon any discussion of this subject is. 

 Are these assumptions of economists that there is no science of 

 taxation and no general laws regulating its exercise and effects 

 — assumptions generally concurred in by jurists and popular sen- 

 timent — correct ? If they are, then there are no principles of 

 taxation to discuss, and a consideration of the subject must be 

 limited mainly to a recital of the world^s experiments and expe- 

 riences and an exposition of legislative enactments and court 

 decisions. To admit their correctness, furthermore, is equivalent 

 to confessing that human knowledge, in at least one department, 

 has reached its extreme limit ; and that a class of transactions 

 which, more than almost any other, are determinative of the dis- 

 tribution of wealth, the forms in which industry shall be exerted, 

 and the sphere of personal liberty, are best directed by accident 

 or caprice. To ascertain the true state of the case ought, accord- 

 ingly, to constitute the main object of inquiry, and, with a view 

 of helping to the formation of an intelligent opinion, attention 

 will be first asked to the meaning or definition of the two funda- 

 mental terms, tax and taxation. And in so doing we obtain im- 

 mediately an illustration of the indefiniteness of idea and lack of 

 exactitude in expression that characterize this whole subject, and 

 also a very definite clew to their origin. 



Analysis of the Word Tax. — Thus, the word tax in the Eng- 

 lish language, and its equivalent in all other languages, is used in 

 a very loose and indefinite sense. Many writers, and the diction- 

 ary-makers generally, use the word in an extremely generic 

 sense, to cover and designate all contributions obtained by pro- 

 cess of assessment and levy (act of collection) by a state or 

 government from the persons and property of its citizens ; or 

 from persons and property within its power and jurisdiction ; 

 in whatever form, or however arbitrary the assessments or levies 

 may be, and by whatever name they may be known or desig- 

 nated — whether tribute, toll, talliage, duty, gabel, customs, im- 

 post, poll, subsidy, aid, excise, income, or benevolence.* Such a 



* " A tax is a rate or sum of money assessed on the person or property of a citizen by 

 Government for the use of the nation or State." — We''js(cr''s Dictionary. 



