212 APPENDIX A. 



" Taxes are regarded by economists as an evil, 

 but as a necessary evil, since they provide for pub- 

 lic expenses. Consequently, economists think that 

 if the government possessed sufficient revenues, in 

 domains for example, the suppression of all taxes 

 would be a desirable measure." 



" Taxes are a means of influencing production 

 and commerce to give to them a direction which 

 they would not naturally have taken. Such an 

 influence may undoubtedly have disagreeable con- 

 sequences if the taxes are imposed without dis- 

 crimination or exclusively for a fiscal purpose, but 

 it is entirely otherwise if wisdom and tact preside 

 at their institution." 



" A tax on the rent of a farm would be much 

 better than a tax on the land itself. Proprietors 

 then could only avoid taxes by themselves improv- 

 ing their property. As it is, they merely collect 

 the rents, and usually employ their surplus in un- 

 productive expenditure, while the proprietary 

 farmers voluntarily devote theirs to the improve- 

 ment of the land." 



" A tax on the farms would then result in the 

 proprietors themselves working the lands, and tnis 

 would mean better cultivation, and improvements 

 which would yield returns indeed, but at too re- 

 mote a period for the tenant. It would tend to a 



