io RATES AND TAXES 



taxation raised for local purposes. In this 

 case, the Commissioners themselves pointed 

 out the importance of the principle of 

 personal burden, but they did not always 

 follow it to the logical conclusion ; and in 

 popular controversy, the point most discussed 

 is still literally whether different classes of 

 property are equitably taxed. 



The fallacy involved in this point of view 

 may be illustrated by reference to a case 

 that will call for repeated consideration in 

 different forms. It is a grievance of the 

 agricultural ratepayers that poor-rates, and 

 similar rates, are levied on the net rental of 

 the cultivated land, and they contend that 

 land is as much the raw material of the 

 farmer as wool or cotton is of the manu- 

 facturer. It is alleged that one form of 

 properly is taxed whilst other forms used in a 

 similar way escape. Thus the farmers the 

 manufacturers of food seem to have a 



