178 Professor Whewell on the 



The postulate of wages is however, as I have already said, 

 perfectly gratuitous; and there does not appear to be any good 

 reason for believing that a tax upon raw produce, whether food, 

 or any other articles, might not fall to a great extent on the 

 wages of the labourer. 



The effect of a change of wages, such as is here supposed, 

 upon foreign trade, will appear from what we shall have to say 

 in treating of that part of the subject. 



2. Taxes on Rent, (Ricardo, Chap, vm.) 



If r be the produce of the limiting soil, and r x of any other 

 soil, we shall have, after the tax as before, pr=lw + y. and as 7, 

 r, c, I, w, remain the same, p is not altered. Hence if a tax is laid 

 on rent to the amount of the fraction t, it will fall wholly on 

 rent: which will be reduced from pt\-pr to (1 -t) {pr l -pr). 



If what is called rent, be in part interest for capital, a tax on 

 rent will be governed by different laws, so far as that portion 

 is concerned. 



3. Land Tax, (Ricardo, Chap, x.) 



Let T be the amount of the tax per acre. Therefore pr' — T 

 is the cultivator's portion of the produce of the limiting soil ; 

 7 will not be changed ; therefore 



p'r— T=lw' + yc } pr = lw + yc, 

 (p-p)r-T=l(w'-w); prx-T^lwfx; x = ^jfc ± {n Iftfa ' 



the tax will wholly affect the price, and the results will be ex- 

 actly the same as in a tax on raw produce. 



4. Taxes on Profits, (Ricardo, Chap, xm.) 



These taxes are supposed to be partial, that is, to be levied 

 only on certain employments of capital. In that case they will 



