GENERAL PRINCIPLES 11 



special grievance against the manufacturers 

 of clothes and other things. 



In the same way, it is urged that the shop- 

 keeper is not rated on his stock-in-trade, 

 whilst the farmer is in effect so rated because 

 his rent is payment, not merely for land at its 

 prairie value, but as inextricably combined 

 with various forms of capital. Suppose, 

 however, that in fact the farmers, as a body, 

 are able to transfer this part of their rates 

 to the landlords, then this special grievance 

 disappears, so far as they are concerned, 

 and is transferred to the owners of land. 

 The real difficulty is not that land is taxed, 

 but who really pays the tax landlord or 

 occupier. The principle that taxes fall on 

 persons and not on things is in effect the 

 basis of the distinction between primary (or 

 nominal) and ultimate (or real) incidence. 

 The classification of taxes at best only 

 gives an indication of the primary or nominal 



