DIRECT TAXATION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 8, Issue 408, 3 September 1866, Page 3

DIRECT TAXATION.

TWELVE SEASONS FOB ESTABLISHING DIEECT TAXATION, AND THE ABOLITION OP CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DUTIES, AND ALL OXHEB INDIEECT TAXES. Fiest.— Because Taxation, being a payment for service rendered by the State, ought to be imposed in some fair proportion to the amount of protection afforded to the citizens, and should be as honestly, 1 and conscientiously, and universally paid as any other just debt. Second. —Because it is impossible to obtain these ends under any system of Indirect Taxation whatever, since every such mode of raising the public revenue readers payment of the debt to the State merely optional, encourages numerous frauds, and is .levied, not iq proportion to the means, but to the necessities of the Tax-payer. Thied. —Because Customs and Excise Duties are exceedingly costly in collection. They require the employment of many thousands of officers who obstruct nearly all the operations of Trade, whieh-ought to be perfectly free. The expense of this staff, exclusive of many contingent charges to the State, , and of the loss of money, time and labor to all engaged in mercantile and manufacturing transactions, is, on the most moderate computation, fiive per cent, on the amount collected, whilst Direct Taxes could be levied by a much smaller number of persons, at a uniform charge not exceeding TWO percent. From a Parliamentary Return issued in 1562, it appears that, exclusive of coastguard, buildings, pensions, allowances, and other charges, it cost in 15 commercial ports out of 126, £7 Is 6d to collect £IOO of customs duties; in 18 others, £l2 10s lid ; in 19 others, £2O 6s 6d ; in 20 others, £25 2s 10d; and in 29 others no less than £147 15s Bd—the rate ranging, in the latter case, from £35 19s 8d to £2770 11s 8d per cent. Foueth.— -Because, in addition to the cost of collecting and protecting the Revenue, a much larger sum is extracted from the consumers of taxed articles, in the shape of charges for interest, profits, and risk of capital advanced in payment of the duties by wholesale dealers and retailers, which charges vary from Twenty-Five to TwoHundred per cent, and constitute an extra budren upon the people, beyond the amount received by the State, of at least Twenty Millions sterling^ Fifth.— Because, by including the duty and increased charges consequent on it in the selling price of a commodity, the. consumer is kept ignorant of, the. amount.,which he is paying in taxes and unnecessary,charges; and though this may be considered,, a, happy state of ignorance by those who collect and spend the faxes, it undoubtedly presents to the Government a great temptation to indulge in extravagant expenditure, and withdraws from the -taxpayers the cheek which he ought to retain—that of knowing what he pays to the State, and whether the object of the expenditure-bo worth the cost. Sixth. —Because. Customs and Excise Duties, by incalculably reducing the demand for foreign products below the consuming power of the people of this country, supposing all to be fully employed, and adequately remunerated, for tjiefr labor as they soon would bo with perfect freedom, of Trade —lessens, in the, same proportion, the demand for British productions and manufactures of all kinds, thus inflicting great hardships and losses on the whole' community, and preventing the full development of the national wealth and resources. Seventh. —Because Indirect Taxation, which is literally taxation of the stomach without reference to means, or to the number of mouths to be filled, presses .most heavily on the working classes, who are dependant solely on their personal labor for other than a pauper existence, and who as proved by returns from the leading cooperative stores, pay, on an average, one fourth of their entire wages in prices enhanced by taxes, and extra charges, occasioned by those taxes; while men of property, Peers, and Members of Parliament, who make and uphold such Fiscal Laws, may not be required to pay, in the way of Indirect Taxation, move thau-a Thousandth, or, in particular cases which might be mentioned, even a Ten-Thousandth part of their annual incomes. What the rich man does thus pay may not bo more than a millionth part of his whole property or means, while the working man pays indirect taxes to the amount of one-fourth of his property or means, namely, his wages. Eighth. —Because Customs and Excise Duties not only create artificial pauperism, lessening the demand for, and, consequently, remuneration of labor, but induces the commission of many offences such as smuggling and adulteration, corruption of officers and frauds innumerable. Thus whole classes of the community are demoralised, the public health injured, and a heavy expenditure entailed on the country for the apprehension prosecution, an maintenance of law-made criminals, and the support of their pauperised,, wives and families. - **

iKinth. —Because it is only by the substitution of Direct for Indirect Taxation, that real Freedom of Trade can be established, and every man be left at liberty to conduct his honest business in the way which he, not the revenue officer,- may deem best, and to exchange the products of his labor freely for the products of any other man’s labor throughout. the world, untrammelled by Qustom House officer or Exciseman, —in other words, to earn a living by his own toil. This privilege, originally conferred on Man by his Creator, is now greatly restricted, and often wholly abrogated, by a system of legislation at once absurd and wicked, because id direct opposition to the manifest intention of the Creator.

Tenth,—Because the wisdom and advantage of repealing Customs and Excise Duties have been demonstrated by the experience of the past twenty years, during n;bich period the Import and Export trade of this country has risen in amount from £172,202,726 to £393,782,121. As the result of partial freedom, a great improvement in the condition of the people has taken place, and this beyond all question, would be advanced to a degree unexampled in the history of nations, were Trade entirely liberated from every fiscal burden and restriction.

Eleventh,— Because all classes, excepting only those who fatten on the public plunder, would be benefited by the repeal of Customs and Excise Duties, Licenses to earn a living, Assessed Taxes, Duties on Fire and Life Insurances, and of other Imposts equally opposed to sound and honest principles of fiscal legislation, and the substitution of, Ist, a Direct Tax on Property, 2nd, on Income and 3rd, a Tax on Weekly Wages, if advisable. The Merchants would find new and extended fields for the occupation of their capital, skill and enterprise, whilst all connected with, or dependent upon them, would participate in the advantage. Mechanics, artizans, operatives, and laborers of all kinds would obtain constant employment at better wages. Landowners, who apprehended nothing but ruin and desolation from the repeal of the Corn Laws, but whoso property is now better worth than ever, would find its value still further increased, and still increasing with every advance of general prosperity, whilst, at the same time, Poor Hates, Gaol Hates, and other charges arising from pauperism and criminality would be greatly reduced. The Farmer too would obtain a better market for all the production of the soil from the best of all customers, his own prosperous countrymen.

Twelfth. —Because Customs and Excise establishments constitute a Blockade of our own Coasts, Elvers, and' Harbors, against free intercourse with all the nations of the earth, the raising of which Blockade would tend to the removal of national jealousies, prejudices, and misunderstandings, which have often led to actual warfare, —to show to the people of different countries that mutual dependence upon each other is what Almighty God designed to bo the bond of universal brotherhood amongst mankind,—to the reduction of military and naval armaments as nations become more and more impressed with the truth that all are interested in the prosperity of each, as each is in that of all, —and ultimately to render War, —• which is, and ever has been, with very rare exceptions, theepitomo of all human follies, crimes, and calamities—impossible.