第 59 节
作者:嘟嘟      更新:2021-04-30 16:07      字数:9321
  anybody; serve only to expose the person who affects to practise
  them to the suspicion of being a greater knave than most of his
  neighbours。 By this indulgence of the public; the smuggler is
  often encouraged to continue a trade which he is thus taught to
  consider as in some measure innocent; and when the severity of
  the revenue laws is ready to fall upon him; he is frequently
  disposed to defend with violence what he has been accustomed to
  regard as his just property。 From being at first; perhaps; rather
  imprudent than criminal; he at last too often becomes one of the
  hardiest and most determined violators of the laws of society。 By
  the ruin of the smuggler; his capital; which had before been
  employed in maintaining productive labour; is absorbed either in
  the revenue of the state or in that of the revenue officer; and
  is employed in maintaining unproductive; to the diminution of the
  general capital of the society and of the useful industry which
  it might otherwise have maintained。
  Fourthly; such taxes; by subjecting at least the dealers in
  the taxed commodities to the frequent visits and odious
  examination of the tax…gatherers; expose them sometimes; no
  doubt; to some degree of oppression; and always to much trouble
  and vexation; and though vexation; as has already been said; is
  not; strictly speaking; expense; it is certainly equivalent to
  the expense at which every man would be willing to redeem himself
  from it。 The laws of excise; though more effectual for the
  purpose for which they were instituted; are; in this respect;
  more vexatious than those of the customs。 When a merchant has
  imported goods subject to certain duties of customs; when he has
  paid those duties; and lodged the goods in his warehouse; he is
  not in most cases liable to any further trouble or vexation from
  the custom…house officer。 It is otherwise with goods subject to
  duties of excise。 The dealers have no respite from the continual
  visits and examination of the excise officers。 The duties of
  excise are; upon this account; more unpopular than those of the
  customs; and so are the officers who levy them。 Those officers;
  it is pretended; though in general; perhaps; they do their duty
  fully as well as those of the customs; yet as that duty obliges
  them to be frequently very troublesome to some of their
  neighbours; commonly contract a certain hardness of character
  which the others frequently have not。 This observation; however;
  may very probably be the mere suggestion of fraudulent dealers
  whose smuggling is either prevented or detected by their
  diligence。
  The inconveniencies; however; which are; perhaps; in some
  degree inseparable from taxes upon consumable commodities; fall
  as light upon the people of Great Britain as upon those of any
  other country of which the government is nearly as expensive。 Our
  state is not perfect; and might be mended; but it is as good or
  better than that of most of our neighbours。
  In consequence of the notion that duties upon consumable
  goods were taxes upon the profits of merchants; those duties
  have; in some countries; been repeated upon every successive sale
  of the goods。 If the profits of the merchant importer or merchant
  manufacturer were taxed; equality seemed to require that those of
  all the middle buyers who intervened between either of them and
  the consumer should likewise be taxed。 The famous alcavala of
  Spain seems to have been established upon this principle。 It was
  at first a tax of ten per cent; afterwards of fourteen per cent;
  and is at present of only six per cent upon the sale of every
  sort of property whether movable or immovable; and it is repeated
  every time the property is sold。 The levying of this tax requires
  a multitude of revenue officers sufficient to guard the
  transportation of goods; not only from one province to another;
  but from one shop to another。 It subjects not only the dealers in
  some sorts of goods; but those in all sorts; every farmer; every
  manufacturer; every merchant and shopkeeper; to the continual
  visits and examination of the tax…gatherers。 Through the greater
  part of a country in which a tax of this kind is established
  nothing can be produced for distant sale。 The produce of every
  part of the country must be proportioned to the consumption of
  the neighborhood。 It is to the alcavala; accordingly; that
  Ustaritz imputes the ruin of the manufactures of Spain。 He might
  have imputed to it likewise the declension of agriculture; it
  being imposed not only upon manufactures; but upon the rude
  produce of the land。
  In the kingdom of Naples there is a similar tax of three per
  cent upon the value of all contracts; and consequently upon that
  of all contracts of sale。 It is both lighter than the Spanish
  tax; and the greater part of towns and parishes are allowed to
  pay a composition in lieu of it。 They levy this composition in
  what manner they please; generally in a way that gives no
  interruption to the interior commerce of the place。 The
  Neapolitan tax; therefore; is not near so ruinous as the Spanish
  one。
  The uniform system of taxation which; with a few exceptions
  of no great consequence; takes place in all the different parts
  of the United Kingdom of Great Britain; leaves the interior
  commerce of the country; the inland and coasting trade; almost
  entirely free。 The inland trade is almost perfectly free; and the
  greater part of goods may be carried from one end of the kingdom
  to the other without requiring any permit or let…pass; without
  being subject to question; visit; or examination from the revenue
  officers。 There are a few exceptions; but they are such as can
  give no interruption to any important branch of the inland
  commerce of the country。 Goods carried coastwise; indeed; require
  certificates or coast…cockets。 If you except coals; however; the
  rest are almost all duty…free。 This freedom of interior commerce;
  the effect of the uniformity of the system of taxation; is
  perhaps one of the principal causes of the prosperity of Great
  Britain; every great country being necessarily the best and most
  extensive market for the greater part of the productions of its
  own industry。 If the same freedom; in consequence of the same
  uniformity; could be extended to Ireland and the plantations;
  both the grandeur of the state and the prosperity of every part
  of the empire would probably be still greater than at present。
  In France; the different revenue laws which take place in
  the different provinces require a multitude of revenue officers
  to surround not only the frontiers of the kingdom; but those of
  almost each particular province; in order either to prevent the
  importation of certain goods; or to subject it to the payment of
  certain duties; to the no small interruption of the interior
  commerce of the country。 Some provinces are allowed to compound
  for the gabelle or salt…tax。 Others are exempted from it
  altogether。 Some provinces are exempted from the exclusive sale
  of tobacco; which the farmers…general enjoy through the greater
  part of the kingdom。 The aides; which correspond to the excise in
  England; are very different in different provinces。 Some
  provinces are exempted from them; and pay a composition or
  equivalent。 In those in which they take place and are in farm
  there are many local duties which do not extend beyond a
  particular town or district。 The traites; which correspond to our
  customs; divide the kingdom into three great parts; first; the
  provinces subject to the tariff of 1664; which are called the
  provinces of the five great farms; and under which are
  comprehended Picardy; Normandy; and the greater part of the
  interior provinces of the kingdom; secondly; the provinces
  subject to the tariff of 1667; which are called the provinces
  reckoned foreign; and under which are comprehended the greater
  part of the frontier provinces; and; thirdly; those provinces
  which are said to be treated as foreign; or which; because they
  are allowed a free commerce with foreign countries; are in their
  commerce with other provinces of France subjected to the same
  duties as other foreign countries。 These are Alsace; the three
  bishoprics of Metz; Toul; and Verdun; and the three cities of
  Dunkirk; Bayonne; and Marseilles。 Both in the provinces of the
  five great farms (called so on account of an ancient division of
  the duties of customs into five great branches; each of which was
  originally the subject of a particular farm; though they are now
  all united into one); and in those which are said to be reckoned
  foreign; there are many local duties which do not extend beyond a
  particular town or district。 There are some such even in the
  provinces which are said to be treated as foreign; particularly
  in the city of Marseilles。 It is unnecessary to observe how much
  both the restraints upon the interior commerce of the country and
  the number of the revenue officers must be multiplied in order to