7 66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



reason, as he claims, of their eminent justice and equality, have 

 obtained such world- wide celebrity that they are almost always 

 referred to as of unquestionable authority in all discussions of 

 this subject, and have been thus characterized by an eminent 

 French student and writer (M. Menier) on taxation : " When a 

 legislator," he says, " brings forward a new scheme for taxation, 

 he is always careful to say that it is not in contradiction with 

 even one of these rules ; and at the same time he never fails to 

 invoke them as authority during a debate, even when he is actu- 

 ally scheming to transgress them." 



These rules are four in number, and are as follows : 1. " The 

 subjects of every state ought to contribute to the support of the 

 Government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respect- 

 ive abilities that is, in proportion to the revenue which they 

 respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." In the ob- 

 servation or neglect of this maxim consists what is called the 

 "equality or inequality of taxation." 2. "The tax which each 

 individual is bound to pay ought to be certain and not arbitrary. 

 The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be 

 paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor and to 

 every other person. The certainty of what each individual ought 

 to pay is, in taxation, of so great importance that a very consid- 

 erable degree of inequality (I believe, from the experience of all 

 nations), is not near so great an evil as a very small degree of un- 

 certainty." 3. " Every tax ought to be levied at the time and in 

 the manner in which it is most likely to be convenient for the 

 contributor to pay it." 4. " Every tax ought to be so contrived 

 as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people 

 as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public 

 treasury of the state." 



But although almost universally accepted as the embodiment 

 of the highest wisdom, the above four maxims or canons of Adam 

 Smith have been and are, nevertheless, open to some criticism. 

 In the first place, they are so general in their nature and so lack- 

 ing in any precise rule or test for application, that they stand in 

 the light of aphorisms ; somewhat as the maxims " Honesty is the 

 best policy," " Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to- 

 day," etc., to which all respect is always given, except the desir- 

 able one of practical use in actual cases. In fact, the originators 

 of the very worst forms of taxation now existing might and 

 probably would plead that their methods or practices were based 

 on the ideas of Adam Smith, or were as near in conformity to 

 them as was possible under the existing circumstances. Again, 

 the first maxim or canon embodies two propositions antagonistic 

 to each other, and one of which can hardly be considered correct ; 

 namely, that every citizen should pay taxes for the support of 



