第 50 节
作者:嘟嘟      更新:2021-04-30 16:07      字数:9322
  different Species of Revenue
  The taxes which; it is intended; should fall indifferently
  upon every different species of revenue; are capitation taxes;
  and taxes upon consumable commodities。 These must be paid
  indifferently from whatever revenue the contributors may possess;
  from the rent of their land; from the profits of their stock; or
  from the wages of their labour。
  Capitation Taxes
  Capitation taxes; if it is attempted to proportion them to
  the fortune or revenue of each contributor; become altogether
  arbitrary。 The state of a man's fortune varies from day to day;
  and without an inquisition more intolerable than any tax; and
  renewed at least once every year; can only be guessed at。 His
  assessment; therefore; must in most cases depend upon the good or
  bad humour of his assessors; and must; therefore; be altogether
  arbitrary and uncertain。
  Capitation taxes; if they are proportioned not to the
  supposed fortune; but to the rank of each contributor; become
  altogether unequal; the degrees of fortune being frequently
  unequal in the same degree of rank。
  Such taxes; therefore; if it is attempted to render them
  equal; become altogether arbitrary and uncertain; and if it is
  attempted to render them certain and not arbitrary; become
  altogether unequal。 Let the tax be light or heavy; uncertainty is
  always a great grievance。 In a light tax a considerable degree of
  inequality may be supported; in a heavy one it is altogether
  intolerable。
  In the different poll…taxes which took place in England
  during the reign of William III the contributors were; the
  greater part of them; assessed according to the degree of their
  rank; as dukes; marquisses; earls; viscounts; barons; esquires;
  gentlemen; the eldest and youngest sons of peers; etc。 All
  shopkeepers and tradesmen worth more than three hundred pounds;
  that is; the better sort of them; were subject to the same
  assessment; how great soever might be the difference in their
  fortunes。 Their rank was more considered than their fortune。
  Several of those who in the first poll…tax were rated according
  to their supposed fortune were afterwards rated according to
  their rank。 Serjeants; attorneys; and proctors at law; who in the
  first poll…tax were assessed at three shillings in the pound of
  their supposed income; were afterwards assessed as gentlemen。 In
  the assessment of a tax which was not very heavy; a considerable
  degree of inequality had been found less insupportable than any
  degree of uncertainty。
  In the capitation which has been levied in France without
  any interruption since the beginning of the present century; the
  highest orders of people are rated according to their rank by an
  invariable tariff; the lower orders of people; according to what
  is supposed to be their fortune; by an assessment which varies
  from year to year。 The officers of the king's court; the judges
  and other officers in the superior courts of justice; the
  officers of the troops; etc。; are assessed in the first manner。
  The inferior ranks of people in the provinces are assessed in the
  second。 In France the great easily submit to a considerable
  degree of inequality in a tax which; so far as it affects them;
  is not a very heavy one; but could not brook the arbitrary
  assessment of an intendant。 The inferior ranks of people must; in
  that country; suffer patiently the usage which their superiors
  think proper to give them。
  In England the different poll…taxes never produced the sum
  which had been expected from them; or which; it was supposed;
  they might have produced; had they been exactly levied。 In France
  the capitation always produces the sum expected from it。 The mild
  government of England; when it assessed the different ranks of
  people to the poll…tax; contented itself with what that
  assessment happened to produce; and required no compensation for
  the loss which the state might sustain either by those who could
  not pay; or by those who would not pay (for there were many
  such); and who; by the indulgent execution of the law; were not
  forced to pay。 The more severe government of France assesses upon
  each generality a certain sum; which the intendant must find as
  he can。 If any province complains of being assessed too high; it
  may; in the assessment of next year; obtain an abatement
  proportioned to the overcharge of the year before。 But it must
  pay in the meantime。 The intendant; in order to be sure of
  finding the sum assessed upon his generality; was empowered to
  assess it in a larger sum that the failure or inability of some
  of the contributors might be compensated by the overcharge of the
  rest; and till 1765 the fixation of this surplus assessment was
  left altogether to his discretion。 In that year; indeed; the
  council assumed this power to itself。 In the capitation of the
  provinces; it is observed by the perfectly well…informed author
  of the Memoires upon the impositions in France; the proportion
  which falls upon the nobility; and upon those whose privileges
  exempt them from the taille; is the least considerable。 The
  largest falls upon those subject to the taille; who are assessed
  to the capitation at so much a pound of what they pay to that
  other tax。
  Capitation taxes; so far as they are levied upon the lower
  ranks of people; are direct taxes upon the wages of labour; and
  are attended with all the inconveniences of such taxes。
  Capitation taxes are levied at little expense; and; where
  they are rigorously exacted; afford a very sure revenue to the
  state。 It is upon this account that in countries where the ease;
  comfort; and security of the inferior ranks of people are little
  attended to; capitation taxes are very common。 It is in general;
  however; but a small part of the public revenue which; in a great
  empire; has ever been drawn from such taxes; and the greatest sum
  which they have ever afforded might always have been found in
  some other way much more convenient to the people。
  Taxes upon Consumable Commodities
  The impossibility of taxing the people; in proportion to
  their revenue; by any capitation; seems to have given occasion to
  the invention of taxes upon consumable commodities。 The state;
  not knowing how to tax; directly and proportionably; the revenue
  of its subjects; endeavours to tax it indirectly by taxing their
  expense; which; it is supposed; will in most cases be nearly in
  proportion to their revenue。 Their expense is taxed by taxing the
  consumable commodities upon which it is laid out。
  Consumable commodities are either necessaries or luxuries。
  By necessaries I understand not only the commodities which
  are indispensably necessary for the support of life; but whatever
  the custom of the country renders it indecent for creditable
  people; even of the lowest order; to be without。 A linen shirt;
  for example; is; strictly speaking; not a necessary of life。 The
  Greeks and Romans lived; I suppose; very comfortably though they
  had no linen。 But in the present times; through the greater part
  of Europe; a creditable day…labourer would be ashamed to appear
  in public without a linen shirt; the want of which would be
  supposed to denote that disgraceful degree of poverty which; it
  is presumed; nobody can well fall into without extreme bad
  conduct。 Custom; in the same manner; has rendered leather shoes a
  necessary of life in England。 The poorest creditable person of
  either sex would be ashamed to appear in public without them。 In
  Scotland; custom has rendered them a necessary of life to the
  lowest order of men; but not to the same order of women; who may;
  without any discredit; walk about barefooted。 In France they are
  necessaries neither to men nor to women; the lowest rank of both
  sexes appearing there publicly; without any discredit; sometimes
  in wooden shoes; and sometimes barefooted。 Under necessaries;
  therefore; I comprehend not only those things which nature; but
  those things which the established rules of decency have rendered
  necessary to the lowest rank of people。 All other things I call
  luxuries; without meaning by this appellation to throw the
  smallest degree of reproach upon the temperate use of them。 Beer
  and ale; for example; in Great Britain; and wine; even in the
  wine countries; I call luxuries。 A man of any rank may; without
  any reproach; abstain totally from tasting such liquors。 Nature
  does not render them necessary for the support of life; and
  custom nowhere renders it indecent to live without them。
  As the wages of labour are everywhere regulated; partly by
  the demand for it; and partly by the average price of the
  necessary articles of subsistence; whatever raises this average
  price must necessarily raise those wages so that the labourer may
  still be able to purchase that quantity of those necessary
  articles which the state of the demand for labour; whether
  increasing