The Land Taxation and the Economists. i8i 



spirit; whilst the niggardly, however rich, who hung back, had 

 altogether evaded their fair contribution ; it was determined to 

 render obligatory a source of revenue which had hitherto been 

 entirely dependent upon the enthusiasm of the individual. 



It was therefore decided to impose for two years a tax of 

 10 per cent, on all incomes above £200 ; a payment in a pro- 

 gressive scale on all from £60 to £200, and to entirely exempt 

 all under £60. 



The schedule on the following page shows the amount of 

 taxable income at the period when Pitt framed his Bill. 



The chief advantage of obtaining £20,000,000 in this manner 

 was that of economy. The alternative would have been for 

 Parliament to have borrowed the same sum, but it could not 

 have been obtained at a better price than £50 for the 3 per 

 cents, or at an interest of 6 per cent., which, with the pro- 

 vision of 2 per cent, towards the redemption of the capital 

 thus created, would have amounted to a charge of 8 per 

 cent, and involved (besides the expenses of collection) the 

 imposition of new and permanent taxes amounting to 

 £1,600,000 per annum. ^ It was a time of increased prosperity, 

 so that happily no embarrassment had arisen from the dimi- 

 nution of incomes by " The Voluntary Contribution." A 

 people enthusiastic even while its forces were only capable of 

 acting on the defensive, was not less disposed to be so when it 

 had just destroyed the navy of its hereditary enemy. Lord 

 Auckland, in describing the straits to which the naval war 

 had brought France, says:^ "Her inhabitants may collect 

 in crowds upon the shore, and call hard names and use op- 

 probrious language ; but they are beaten, and have ceased to be 

 a maritime people for a long period of time." When, therefore, 

 the prospect of the final overthrow of Bonaparte seemed to 

 be within sight, we cannot wonder at the readiness with which 

 the new scheme of taxation was accepted by the nation. If 



* Pitt's Sinking Fund .Schemes, introduced in 1786, and again in 1792, 

 seem to have borne no fruit, being counteracted probably by the outbreak 

 of war. We cannot otherwise account for the low state of the national 

 credit. 



* Speech in the House of Peers, .Jan. 8th, 1799. 



