HEREDITY AND POLITICS 157 



separately, whereas a husband and wife are assessed 

 jointly, and frequently have to pay on a higher scale 

 in consequence ; though, if one inherits from the 

 other, the State, with Gilbertian inconsistency, charges 

 death-dues as though the victims were in reality 

 separate entities. Here again, we have an increased 

 share of the burdens of the nation placed on those 

 who have already undertaken the heavier responsi- 

 bilities. The effect of this obvious miscarriage of 

 justice has been pointed out again and again in the 

 annual Parliamentary discussions on the Budget, and 

 the reply invariably is that the amount of income 

 derived from the perpetuation of this acknowledged 

 unfairness is so considerable that it cannot easily be 

 relinquished. The humour of this justification, with 

 which the representatives of the British nation are ( 

 apparently perfectly satisfied, does not appear to strike 

 many people. At what exact figure, we may well ask, 

 do the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his financial 

 advisers think that honesty will become the best 

 policy ? Where is the lower limit of the value of 

 the national conscience in such matters ? 



Irrespectively of all racial considerations, a good 

 case can be made out for the principle of lightening 

 taxation on the parents of families on the old theory 

 that taxation should be levied in proportion to a 

 man's ability to pay. In the classes that pay income 

 tax, a man's ability to pay easily the charges of the 

 Exchequer decreases very rapidly as the number of 

 his children grows. Yet, owing to his increasing 

 need of more house-room, his rates go up, and, 

 owing to the rapid rise in the amount of taxable 



