398= 152 Taxation as affecting the Agricultural Interest. 
which very greatly reduces, at all events, the inevitable share of 
the taxes of the lower class. 
This variety in the form of burden appears from the following 
summary : — 
Upper Class. Lower Class. 
Taxes on income and property 5 J per cent. Nil, 
Taxes on consumption . . 2| per cent. 6 per cent. 
Taxes on other outgoings . . 2>^ per cent. 1 per cent. 
Total . . 11^ per cent. 7 per cent. 
These figures show that only indirect taxes practically rea 
the manual labour classes ; while these taxes are, moreover, 
on accessories, not necessaries of life, nearly four-fifths of tlnl 
whole taking the form of imposts on spirits, beer, or tobaccoj 
This feature causes, of course, very great irregularity in tbl 
amount paid by different individuals. Large sums of ext 
taxation, poured freely into the coffers of the State by a minoritijl 
of intemperate individuals, greatly swell the apparent norma t 
taxes of the class. Could these be abstracted from the totj i , 
average contribution, as some writers on taxation have tried t[^ 
do, a working-man need not be a total abstainer to obtain fc \, 
himself a taxation far lighter than that here shown. He maj 
by simply eschewing spirits and tobacco, enjoy a fair modicui 
of other taxable luxuries without being called on from one year 
end to another to pay for all the benefits and protection ( 
civilised Government much more than a single sum of sixpenc 
out of every pound of his wages. 
Recent fiscal A great fiscal change has of late years been effected in Britis 
changes. finance. Less than half a century ago we had tariffs whol 
or nearly prohibitory on articles even of the fiji'st nccessit 
Customs duties, now all but restricted to certain stimulants ar 
luxuries, then ranged over some 500 different commoditif 
Taxes on corn, taxes on sugar, taxes on windows, on brie, 
and on glass, taxes on bacon and on butter, on cheese ar 
on soap, on candles and on paper, are all things of the pa: 
Tea pays but one-fourth of the duty it bore five-and-twen 
years ago. It may, indeed, be safely affirmed that, so 
the consumer is concerned, the average burden of taxation Ci w 
occasion but little inconvenience. Large as its aggregate m | 4, 
be, it is supported with an ease which to our forefathers was Uj •« 
known, and to most modern nations is even yet hardly imagintj % 
This change has brought a larger share of taxes on the propel 
of the country, and thrown a gradually increasing degree 
relative pressure on a less numerous section of the community , 
I 
