TAURUS TAXES, TAXATION. 



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caravansaries, 250 dshamis and mosques, and 

 150,000 inhabitants. It is celebrated throughout 

 Asia as a commercial place, and also has important 

 manufactures. The shagreen is made here, with 

 which almost all Persia is supplied, every one except 

 the peasants wearing boots and shoes of it. Tauris 

 contains some magnificent ruins. It has suffered 

 repeatedly from earthquakes, and from hostile vio- 

 lence. It was the residence of Abbas Mirza, crown- 

 prince of Persia, until 1828, when it was occupied 

 by the Russians. See Persia. 



TAURUS, in astronomy. See Constellation, 

 and Ecliptic. 



TAURUS; a celebrated chain of mountains in 

 the eastern part of Asiatic Turkey, whose greatest 

 height is in the vicinity of the sources of the Eu- 

 phrates, whence it extends in several ridges over 

 the greatest part of Western Asia. One ridge, the 

 Ala Dag, runs through Natolia, and terminates in 

 the Chelidonian promontory over against Rhodes. 

 Another branch extends into Syria, and there forms 

 the Libanus and Anti-Libanus. To the north, the 

 Taurus, which is connected with the system of 

 mountains in central Asia by its branches, ap- 

 proaches the Caucasus, and to the east unites with 

 snowy Kiare and mount Zagros. 



TAUTOLOGY (from the Greek T*WT O , the same, 

 and xya,-, speech) ; the repetition of the same sense 

 in different words or phrases. See Pleonasm. 



TAVERNIER, JEAN BAPTISTE, Baron d'Au- 

 bonne (a title derived from an estate near Geneva, 

 which his success in mercantile pursuits enabled 

 him to purchase), was the son of a Dutch merchant 

 settled at Paris, who traded largely in charts and 

 maps, the perusal of which first inspired his son 

 with a propensity for travelling. He was born at 

 Paris about 1605, and, before his twenty-first year, 

 had already visited a considerable portion of Eu- 

 rope. He subsequently travelled through Turkey, 

 Persia, and other Eastern countries, six times by 

 different routes, trading as a diamond merchant, at 

 the same time that he indulged his thirst for mak- 

 ing himself acquainted with the manners and cus- 

 toms of remote nations. Of these his journeys he 

 gave an account, with the assistance of a literary 

 friend, whose services the defects of his own edu- 

 cation made necessary to arrange the mass of his 

 observations. In 1668, having realized a large for- 

 tune, and obtained a patent of nobility from the 

 French king, he retired to his estate in the Gene- 

 vese territories, with the view of passing the re- 

 mainder of his life in tranquillity. The misconduct 

 of a nephew, by injuring his pecuniary resources, 

 altered his determination, and induced him once 

 aiore to set out for Russia for the purpose of re- 

 cruiting his shattered finances. He succeeded in 

 reaching Moscow, the ancient capital of that vast 

 empire, but died there soon after his arrival, in the 

 summer of 1689. His Travels, of which there is 

 an English translation, have gone through several 

 editions in the original French. 



TAXES, TAXATION, denotes that portion of 

 their property which the government of a state 

 exacts, for the supply of the public necessities, from 

 its subjects, or other persons residing in the coun- 

 try, and partaking of its advantages. Hence they 

 form a part of the state revenues. Another part is 

 formed by the revenues from the domains, and from 

 the royal prerogatives, so far as the last afford only 

 official gains, and are not used at the same time as 

 means to exact, or to raise taxes. (See Domains, 

 and Royalties.') In most states, particularly in 



those of ancient times, the public expenditures 

 were supplied from the revenues of domains and 

 royalties, which were considered, the former as the 

 property, the latter as privileges, of the sovereigns. 

 As the expenses of the state continually increased, 

 or the rulers, from bad economy, found the above- 

 mentioned sources of revenue insufficient, they be- 

 gan to demand contributions from the members of 

 the community, and imposed upon them taxes or 

 imposts. They usually, however, met with great 

 difficulties, since the nobles would not .suffer them- 

 selves to be taxed, under pretext of forming a state 

 within themselves, and maintained, that such con- 

 tributions could be raised only with their consent. 

 What could be obtained from them voluntarily, was 

 very little. They, however, acknowledged the 

 necessity of increasing the revenue of the state ; 

 but the sovereigns were afraid to constrain them to 

 contribute, and inclined to grant them exemption 

 from taxes, if they would only consent that the rest 

 of the nation, which did not belong to their privi- 

 leged order, should be subjected to imposts. The 

 nobles, fearing that if no other source of revenue 

 were left open to the sovereign, the burden of taxes 

 would finally fall on themselves, willingly allowed 

 him the right of taxing the rest of the nation, 

 which, from want of union and power, was obliged 

 to yield. Thus the taxes, for a long time, were 

 laid almost every where on the commons only, the 

 higher and more powerful orders, the clergy and 

 nobility, being exempt. Enlightened governments, 

 however, early perceived that, in order to render 

 taxes a permanent source of revenue, means must 

 be left to the subjects, of gaining, every year, so 

 much as to be able to subsist, and to have a suffi- 

 cient sum remaining to pay the taxes. Hence they 

 were induced to refrain from exhausting their pro- 

 perty. But a long time elapsed before the princi- 

 ples of equitable taxation were well understood. It 

 was not till alate period, since government has become 

 an object of profound reflection, and a more perfect 

 system of political economy has arisen, that a the- 

 ory of taxation has been formed, which can be used 

 as a solid basis of revenue. According to this the- 

 ory, taxes are the portions of the property of indi- 

 viduals, which each has to contribute to the public 

 treasury, to defray the public expenses. From this 

 definition it follows, 1. that no one should be ex- 

 empted from taxes, who possesses property or in- 

 come, and is protected in his person and estate, and 

 that, in consequence, absolute freedom from taxes 

 in any individual, so situated, is unjust towards 

 those members of the community who are charged 

 with them ; 2. that the taxes ought to be assessed 

 according to the net income of each individual ; 3. 

 that the taxes must never be suffered to injure the 

 sources of income ; 4. that the ratio of taxes to in- 

 come ought to be as small as possible, in order that 

 the revenue of the nation, as well as of the indi- 

 vidual, may be allowed to increase. The greatest- 

 difficulty in effecting a just distribution of taxes, is 

 to find the clear income of every individual. In 

 the mode of taxation formerly practised, this diffi- 

 culty was but little considered. Financiers were 

 satisfied with laying taxes where they observed 

 property or income, without caring much whether 

 they were taken from the gross or net income, 

 from the capital, or from the interest and profits. 

 The rudest mode was to assess the taxes according 

 to the number of heads. On the supposition that 

 every one receives enough to pay something, they 

 demanded from every head such a sum as, it was 



