166 TAXATION AND FINANCE. 



and city or town separately rateable being given in the Act. The 

 assessment in this case does not differ materially from that of 

 December, 1653. By 14 Charles II. cap. 8, a sum of 60,000 

 to be paid to indigent loyalists was raised by a parochial rate, 

 and by the ninth act or chapter of the same session the parish 

 authorities were directed to pay pensions of not less than 2s. 6d. 

 a week, and not more than 3^., to maimed and indigent 

 soldiers and officers. In 1663, Parliament granted for the 

 last time the ancient subsidies from the clergy and the laity. 

 But the incidence of the tax was so unequal, and the produce 

 of it so scanty, that the system was henceforth abandoned. 

 It is evident then that the subsidy was collected on the 

 ancient valuations. 



The reign of Charles II is marked by the fusion of clerical 

 with lay taxation, and the concession of the parliamentary 

 franchise to the clergy in respect of their benefices. The clergy 

 had always been able to vote for members of Parliament in 

 respect of their lay fees, and as I believe to sit in Parliament 

 if they had no franchise for convocation. The innovation was 

 inevitable. The clergy had been assessed under the Common- 

 wealth on the same principle as the laity. But besides, the 

 basis on which their subsidies were assessed was the valuation 

 of Henry VIII, known as that in 'the King's Books,' and this 

 had become entirely unfair, as the benefice, like the land from 

 the proceeds of which its revenue was derived, had gained or 

 lost, comparatively speaking, by the changes of more than 

 a century and a quarter. 



From this time forth, extraordinary grants were made from 

 direct taxation, and generally on the lines which were laid 

 down in the Commonwealth assessments. This is notably the 

 case in the grant of a monthly payment from the counties, 

 cities and towns, to commence with February 4, 1672, when 

 war was declared against the Dutch and the king repudiated 

 his debt to the goldsmiths. In 1670, again, a novel expedient 

 was adopted in the shape of an income-tax of f per cent, on 

 bankers' loans, of six shillings per cent, on personal estates, 



