PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 73 



Every foreigner staying in Prussia more than one year, but 

 with no intent of becoming a permanent resident, must expect to be 

 taxed on his income at the expiration of the first year, although 

 none of the sources of such income may be within the territorial 

 jurisdiction of Prussia. Up to the year 1891-92 the income tax 

 of Prussia was levied by a board of income-tax commissioners, 

 one third of whom were appointed by the authorities and two thirds 

 by the taxpayers. The assessing was done by the board on informa- 

 tion and evidence obtainable; and in the absence of authentic proof 

 as to the amount of annual income, " circumstantial ^id hypothetical 

 evidence was accepted." Parties thus assessed might appeal from the 

 conclusions of the board to another tribunal organized for that pur- 

 pose, whose decision was final. Appeals are not often made to this 

 latter board, as the methods adopted by it to bring unwilling or 

 evasive taxpayers to terms are harsh and inquisitorial in the extreme 

 and most peremptory. The modus procedente against delinquent 

 taxpayers is very summary. If after three days' written notice pay- 

 ment fails to be made, a mandate is issued by the tax collector, and 

 the property of the delinquent, especially his household goods, is 

 seized and sold. By another curious provision in the German tax 

 law the collector of taxes is made personally liable for any taxes 

 lost by reason of his failing to mercilessly enforce the collection with- 

 in a prescribed period. In 1891 some mitigation of the harsh pro- 

 ceedings involved in the assessment of the income tax in Prussia was 

 made by the Government, and now every tax])ayer is allowed to make 

 a return. 



Great Bkitain. — The idea of a general income tax as a means 

 of raising revenue was first embodied in the form of a statute in 

 Great Britain under the administration of Mr. Pitt, in 1798, and was 

 proposed and advocated solely as a means for obtaining additional 

 revenue for the prosecution of the war with France. It imposed a 

 tax of ten per cent on all incomes in excess of £200 ($1,000). After 

 the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, it was rejiealed on the ground that a 

 tax of this character ought to be exclusively reserved for the exi- 

 gencies of war; and for a like reason it was reimposed on a revival 

 of the war during the following year. Subject to various modifica- 

 tions, it formed an important constituent of the fiscal system of 

 Great Britain until after the battle of Waterloo and the peace of 

 1815, when it was again repealed. After this, nothing more was 

 heard about it until 1842, when Sir Robert Peel reimposed it as a 

 merely temporary measure — i. e., for a period of five years. It has, 

 however, since remained a permanent feature of the British fiscal 

 system, although its repeal has been promised and anticipated by 

 various administrations, and in the general election of 1874 Mr. 



