164 AMERICAN FARMS. 



In Canada the federal treasury gets about $28,000,000 

 at the present time through indirect taxation ; domestic 

 manufactures, which now amount to above $400,000,000,' 

 are increased on the average not less than 5 per cent., 

 making another burden on the consumer of at least 

 $20,000,000. On these two amounts the merchants, 

 jobbers, and retailers who collect them get at least 

 another 20 per cent., or $5,760,000, making in all the 

 fine sum of $57,600,000, or about $57 for the average 

 family. 



An average direct tax of $25 against the million or 

 more incomes in Canada would secure a revenue of $25,- 

 000,000. Would this not be a change calculated to 

 lighten the load carried by many a tax-burdened citizen ? 

 An annual direct tax of $15 upon each of the upwards 

 of 500,000 farm holdings in Canada would yield a 

 revenue greater than the sura total of its customs col- 

 lections of twenty years ago ($8,578,000 in 1S68). This 

 even would be too liberal a contribution to the federal 

 treasury from the farmers of Canada ; a small one, how- 

 ever, compared with that now extracted from them. 

 The cities have a burden to bear, and personal property 

 has no right to escape. Death, probate, legacy, or 

 succession duties, to a limited extent, could also be 

 utilized to regulate inequality. 



But, on whatever taxation be laid, it should rest on 

 the respective payers, as strictly as possible, in propor- 

 tion to income, and it should, after a certain limit, be 

 progressive. This is really the only scientific base on 

 which to found an equitable fiscal structure ; one at the 

 same time in perfect accord with the highest principles 

 of ethics. God never intended science to divide the 



' Estimated $635,000,000 for 1889. 



