IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 251 



of all the real property in Great Britain, in estates above 

 150 a-year, which is now rated to the income-tax, 

 amounts to about 2,382,000,000. Four-fifths of a per 

 cent on this sum would realise 19,000,000 sterling; 

 and were all the property, real and personal, in this 

 iskmd, below 150 a-year, and the amount of property 

 in Ireland, rated in a similar way, and fairly collected, 

 our entire revenue of 50,000,000 would probably be 

 obtained as the revenue of the State of New York now 

 is from this one property-tax only. 



Is taxation, then, in the young State of New York, 

 in which the salaries of all public officers are defrayed 

 by the small expenditure of 750,000 dollars is taxation 

 in that State already as heavy as with us ? This question 

 deserves a little closer examination, especially by us in 

 Great Britain, who consider ourselves taxed very far 

 beyond every other nation in the globe. 



The taxes in the United States are of three kinds. 



First, The national taxes, which are of the nature of 

 our customs-duties, and are levied by United States offi 

 cers, according to an act of Congress, upon imports from 

 foreign countries. These amount at present to about 

 30,000,000 of dollars, or something over a dollar a-head 

 upon the entire population. In Great Britain, the same 

 customs-duties amount to 20,000,000 sterling, or upon 

 the 30,000,000 of the two islands, 13s. 4d. a-head, or 

 three dollars being three times heavier than in the 

 United States. 



Second, The State taxes, which, in nearly all cases, 

 are levied by a rate on the estimated value of all pro 

 perty, imposed by an act of the State Legislature. 



Third, The county and other local taxes, which are 

 levied by rates imposed and apportioned by the electors 

 of the district in which they are levied. 



These two latter classes of taxes amount in the State of 

 New York to about two dollars a-head of the population. 



