POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



67 



Political Other species of revenue escape still more easily 

 Economy. f rom direct contribution. A considerable revenue in 

 the state, for example, is the profit of trade, and that 

 of manufactures; but, on being directly taxed, it is 

 almost sure to be annihilated. Another very consi- 

 derable revenue is that of workmen, who gain but a 

 mere wage ; the great number of those who enjoy it 

 makes up for the slcndernest of the portion belonging 

 to each. Such, also, are the revenues of all those 

 classes whose labours leave no products which are sub- 

 stantial and capable of accumulation. Most men who 

 live by those different means do not even know the ex- 

 tent of their revenue, because, receiving it day by day, 

 and expending it in the same manner, they think they 

 have nothing when their labour is all that remains. 

 They form the poorest class of society , but also the 

 most numerous ; and, if we add up the annual con- 

 sumption of all the day-labourers, it is greatly superior 

 in value to that of all the rich. 



But before we think of taxing this revenue we must 

 remember, that nothing can be more absurd, as well 

 as cruel, than to take away a part of the necessary 

 emolument of productive workmen ; for, either it must 

 actually be paid by them, in which case they would 

 suffer, languish, and at last die of penury, and with 

 them would also be destroyed the national revenue 

 which should spring from their labour ; or else they 

 would succeed in obtaining reimbursement for their 

 contribution, either on the class which employs them, 

 or on that of consumers. For this purpose they 

 would raise either all their wages, or the price of all 

 their produce. Thus they would raise manufactures, 

 or, at least, shut foreign markets ; and, by a circuit a 

 little longer, they would equally arrest production, and 

 destroy the national revenue. No operation, however, 

 could.be more difficult than to separate in a poor man's 

 revenue the necessary from the superfluous, which 

 alone can be taxed. Besides, such a tax would be to 

 fix contribution on labour and industry ; or, in some 

 degree, to inflict a penalty on those qualities which 

 it is the most essential to encourage ; it would be to 

 arrest, at their source, the wealth and prosperity of 

 states. Such are the motives which have generally 

 prevented a universal tax on income ; or, at least, have 

 prevented it from reaching the industrious classes com- 

 pletely enough to become productive. 



But those different kinds of income, which cannot be 

 appreciated for taxation at their origin, are always em- 

 ployed in consumption ; and this is the moment when 

 taxation can reach them with far less inconvenience. 

 By taxing every kind of goods in the purchasing of 

 which wealth may be employed, we are- sure to make 

 that wealth contribute, and we need not know to whom 

 it belongs. For such a contribution there is not re- 

 quired any declaration of fortune, any inquisition, any 

 distinction of poor and rich ; it does not attach taxation 

 to labour ; it does not punish what ought, above all 

 other things, to be encouraged. Besides, each contri- 

 butor pays his taxes on consumption as it were in a 

 voluntary manner, at the time when he has money, and 

 finds himself enabled to purchase the thing taxed ; he 

 reimburses the merchant, who has already advanced 

 the impost, and he scarcely perceives that himself has 

 paid any. 



Taxes on consumption are, however, very far from 

 being able to reach the revenue in a correct manner 

 by means of the expenditure. It is required, for exam- 

 ple, that every kind of fortune, every kind of industry, 

 protected by the state, should pay the treasury ten per 

 cent, of the revenue which they give. At first view it 



appears, that this object would be obtained by taxing Politic*! 

 every consumption, every ex pence, of what nature Bnomy. 

 soever, at ten per cent, of its value. But if we attempt 

 to come at every kind of consumption, we must biibject 

 to the same tax the commodities produced in the in- 

 terior of families by domestic industry, thoae produced 

 by the national manufactures, and those introduced by 

 foreign commerce. By making exceptions to this rule, 

 not only would the principle of equality be destroyed 

 in a very unjust manner, but al*o each would be in- 

 duced to serve himself, greatly to the prejudice of ma- 

 nufactures, trade, and the division of labour, which 

 much increases its productive power. On the other 

 hand, by following it rigorously out, each family would 

 be subjected to an inspection of its domestic economy 

 absolutely insupportable. 



The universality of such a tax would have a still 

 more fatal inconvenience, if it were extended to com- 

 modities ef prime necessity. By exempting such 

 commodities, a very considerable portion of the nation- 

 al expenditure is left out; but, in taxing them, the risk 

 is run of confounding the necessary with the superflu- 

 ous in the poor man's consumption ; and should the 

 former be encroached on, of arresting the re-production 

 of revenue, either by the penury and death of the 

 workman, or by the rising of his wages. 



In the last place, no idea could be entertained of 

 taxing goods destined for exportation ; because, when- 

 ever the price of them was raised, foreign consumers 

 would provide themselves elsewhere ; it would be ne- 

 cessary, in that case, to restore by drawbacks ail the 

 customs levied on them. But bow could endless 

 frauds upon this principle be avoided ? The vexatious 

 laws intended to subject foreign commerce to a con- 

 stant superintendence, to prevent such frauds, would 

 alone be equivalent to a heavy contribution. 



It is a great inconvenience of taxes on consumption, 

 that it never can be known at their establishment who 

 is to pay them in the long run. The legislature al- 

 ways proposes to make them be reimbursed by the 

 consumer ; but sometimes they do not reach his dis- 

 tance ; at other times, they do not stop at him, and the 

 consumer is anew reimbursed for them by those for 

 whom he labours. To make the consumer pay the 

 whole tax, the nation must be in a state of increasing 

 prosperity ; for, otherwise, as the consumer is not 

 richer than before the tax, he cannot devote more 

 money than formerly to his enjoyments, and must, 

 therefore, in some shape diminish his consumption. 

 The producer, on his side, no longer selling the whole 

 of his goods, must diminish his production, or consent 

 to pay a portion of the tax. If a public calamity hap- 

 pens, a scarcity or even a state of embarrassment in 

 trade, consumption still farther diminishes ; and the 

 producer, compelled to dispose of his goods, pays the 

 whole tux ; till, no longer finding any profit in his la- 

 bour, he abandons it entirely. 



On the other hand, when taxes and consumption 

 have raised the price of every thing, industrious men, 

 who form a numerous class among consumers, no 

 longer find in their industry sufficient resources to sup- 

 port them. His wages no longer furnish the day-la- 

 bourer with those limited enjoyments, which are to be 

 reckoned among the necessaries of life, since life, or 

 the power of labouring, could not long be maintain- 

 ed in an individual deprived of every pleasure. He 

 struggles, therefore, with all his strength to get his 

 wages increased ; the manufacturer and merchant, 

 in like manner, to get their profits increased. As the 

 total sale diminishes, it is necessary for their subsist- 



