T A 



11C 



T A \ 



-o haraM the merchants with a multitude of p. ;u 



for their nwii advantage. Such ft system, r 

 i'ly be said, i- mo.t discouraging ana iqjuiio 



Untish merchants h;i\e been loud in their 



. .iiupiaiuts, and thr governments of this country itnd of 



llnnoxcr haxc iccentH cnimgrd in n . which, it 



v.ill settle these obnoxious duties upon 



^nmd and equitable prim 



levy a tax at the time and in the manner most 

 likely to 'be convenient for the contributor to pay it ' is 

 always a xvise policy on the part of the state. The time 

 yment may often lie more vexatious than 

 the amount of the tax itself, and thus have the evil effects 

 of high taxation, while it produces no revenue to the state. 

 Suppose, lor example, that a merchant imports goods and 

 i- required to pay a duty upon them immediately and 

 before he has found a market for them : he must either 

 ice the money himself or borrow it from others, and 

 i'i either case he will be obliged to charge the pup 

 of the goods with the interest; or he must sell the goods 

 at once, not on account of any commercial occasion for 

 the sale, but in order to avoid prepayment of the tax. If 

 he paxs the tax and holds the goods the consumer will 

 haxe to repay not only the tax but the interest; and if 

 he parts with them at a loss or inconvenience, trade is in- 

 jured, and the ireneral wealth and consequent productivc- 

 n ess of taxation proportionately diminished. To p,-e\ent 

 exils the handing: or vari-hniixin^ sy-tein was esta- 

 blished, which affords the most liberal convenience to the 

 nan! and a general facility to the trade of a eoun- 

 i 'ei tain warehouses are appointed under the charge 

 ol officers of the customs, in which goods may be deposited 

 without being chargeable with duty until they are cleared 

 tor consumption, and thus the tax is only paid just when 

 the article is wanted, and when it is least inconvenient to 

 pay it. [WAREHOI-SING SYSTKM.] 



Similar accommodation is granted on their own premises 

 to the manufacturers of articles liable to excise duties. At 

 present the customs bonding-warehouses are confined to 

 the ports. An extension of them to inland towns would 

 be sound in principle, very convenient to trade, and un- 

 attended by any serious risk to the revenue or difficulty of 

 management and supervision. 



The evils resulting from inconvenient modes o 

 and collecting taxes have been very seriously felt in this 

 country under the operation of the excise laws. When 

 any manufacture is subject to excise duties, the officers of 

 the revenue have cognizance of every part of the \. 

 inspect and control the premises and machinery of the 

 manufacturer, and often even prescribe the mode of con- 

 ducting and the times of commencing and completing 

 each process; while the observance of numberless minute 

 lations is enforced by severe penalties. The manu- 

 facturer is put. to great inconvenience and expense, and 

 hi* ingenuity and resources are con-tantly interfered with 

 in such a manner as to impede inventions and improve- 

 ment, and to diminish his profits. Some manufactures 

 have been entirely destroyed by oppresMsc i emulations. 

 'Fhe making of lenses of telescopes v, : time a 



flourishing trade. Kneland had the supply of the whole 

 if Kurope, but within the last few years the manufacture. 

 has been transferred to France and Italy, entirely in con- 



nee of the prohibition of the excise I. 

 conducting the ncccssai .! preliminary experi- 



ments. (Dig' - 



Jnifutn/. p. 13.) Trades less unfoitunatc than that just 

 red to arc nevertheless xci itf'crcrs. A Lon- 



don distiller stated to the ( 'ommi-sioners of Kxi ise Inquiry, 

 that amimiing that the duties on spiiits distilled by him 

 should be fully secured to the revenue, ' it would In- 

 well worth his while to pay 3000/. a year for the ) 

 of exemption from excise interference.' (lltiil., p. 



Any injury done to trade is injurious to the state by 

 diminishing the national wealth and the employment ul 

 labour. It has the same effect also upon tb. 



-sive taxation. The high price of the article limits 

 the consumption and consequently the re venue arihimr from 

 it. The. injurious effects of tl 



It in an arrumulnted dcirive by the public who are 

 the consumer", airainst whom the tnx operate* by t 

 c'.ition inade to (lie price of the commodity, not only by 

 lt direct amount, but by the neeescity of CO 

 the manufacturer for hi advance of capital in delrayirg 



it, and al-o by the increased cost of prodiu lion.' 

 p. 15.) In the case of a hi hich also dimin. 



consumption, the Ma 1 - .lit : 



but in tin impedi- 



ments to trade caused b\ 



iins nothing xvl. 1 the ma 



and the consumer are seriously injured, without an eij 

 lent to any party. If the consumer must sutler, it should, 

 at least, be for the benefit of the : r then his 



contributions may be diminished 111 sonic other direction. 

 'ion has been paid, of late year.-, to the im- 

 provement of the excise regulations. , -specially In 

 Commissioners of Inquiry, under tin- able direction 

 Henry 1'arnell. Various restrictions ha\e been reni' 

 and it is to be hoped that t! 11 may be ; 



capable of beii^ 1 without inflicting greater in- 



juries upon trade than other branch. 



The net produce of a tax is all that ' 



in, and therefore any violation of the fourth maxim of Adam 

 Smith is liable to the same object ions as those ah- 

 in reference to the third. Such violation increases the 

 amount of the tax directly, as the former was shown to 

 incren.se it indirectly, without any advantage to the - 

 Facility of collection is a great recommendation to any 



id, on the contran, a disproportion between tin 

 of collecting and the amount ultimately secured i^ a 

 ground for removing a tax. thouirh founded, in 



;-. upon just principles. On this account 

 well as for the general conxenience of trade, it is worthy 

 of serious attention, whether the customs duties \\\ 

 great number of art ides of import should not be altogether 

 repealed. Although great alterations Inn 

 made in our tariff, the number of articles remains ilie 

 same. In 1S3!) there were ;!40 distinct articles, each pro- 

 ducing less than 100/. a year, and in the airirrciratc onh 

 so.'MI/. There are also 132 articles producinL' from HHI/. 

 to 50U/. each, and altogether 31.G2!)/., while Hi aiticles 

 produced '.)*; per cent, of the whole customs revenue. 

 (Import Dulii'a l^'jmrl, 18-10, p. 4.) It is obxious that tin- 

 examination of every description of merchandi/e and 

 package, and the assessment of nearly 1200 different 

 of duty. inu>t irreatlj increase the establishment required 

 for collecting this branch of the revenue. The cost of col 

 lecting tile duties upon the larger and more product ixc 

 articles of import could bear but a small proportion to the 

 amount of the tax. 



The following table maybe interesting as showing the 

 rate at which the whole revenue is collected in the United 

 Kingdom : 



xhniring tfic ('< j /hi- 1'i'rrniiP nf thr 



I'niti'd Kiiiffiliini J' (Iri'iil Hrituiii uii'l In'liunl fnr '/'// 



There is little \ai,;!'iion liom year : 

 chargesof collection, but t!: 



lion in the cost of collecting different b the 



revenue. In 1HI1 the excise cost til. 7. 8</. per cent, in 

 the collection : the assessed taxes 41. 2*. 9d.; and tl 

 venue arising from stamps only '21. 3* 



.emu- is collected at a much iri . 



For some jears past the average rex emic of thai country 

 ha- been 1,020,000,000 4(UKHI,IHH/.. and t!i- 



DMfes of managing and collecting that sum haxeamounted 

 to irKMHKUKK) I- ' iKKl.llOO/., beinir no le-s ti, 



il. ('niiini-rrnil Turijl'*, I'-irl //'.. 1'rnni . IS42. p. 

 11.) It in very probable Uiat many items may be included in 



