第 38 节
作者:嘟嘟      更新:2021-04-30 16:07      字数:9322
  otherwise; every person subject to the tax is put more or less in
  the power of the tax…gathered; who can either aggravate the tax
  upon any obnoxious contributor; or extort; by the terror of such
  aggravation; some present or perquisite to himself。 The
  uncertainty of taxation encourages the insolence and favours the
  corruption of an order of men who are naturally unpopular; even
  where they are neither insolent nor corrupt。 The certainty of
  what each individual ought to pay is; in taxation; a matter of so
  great importance that a very considerable degree of inequality;
  it appears; I believe; from the experience of all nations; is not
  near so great an evil as a very small degree of uncertainty。
  III。 Every tax ought to be levied at the time; or in the
  manner; in which it is most likely to be convenient for the
  contributor to pay it。 A tax upon the rent of land or of houses;
  payable at the same term at which such rents are usually paid; is
  levied at the time when it is most likely to be convenient for
  the contributor to pay; or; when he is most likely to have
  wherewithal to pay。 Taxes upon such consumable goods as are
  articles of luxury are all finally paid by the consumer; and
  generally in a manner that is very convenient for him。 He pays
  them by little and little; as he has occasion to buy the goods。
  As he is at liberty; too; either to buy; or not to buy; as he
  pleases; it must be his own fault if he ever suffers any
  considerable inconveniency from such taxes。
  IV。 Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out
  and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as
  possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury
  of the state。 A tax may either take out or keep out of the
  pockets of the people a great deal more than it brings into the
  public treasury; in the four following ways。 First; the levying
  of it may require a great number of officers; whose salaries may
  eat up the greater part of the produce of the tax; and whose
  perquisites may impose another additional tax upon the people。
  Secondly; it may obstruct the industry the people; and discourage
  them from applying to certain branches of business which might
  give maintenance and unemployment to great multitudes。 While it
  obliges the people to pay; it may thus diminish; or perhaps
  destroy; some of the funds which might enable them more easily to
  do so。 Thirdly; by the forfeitures and other penalties which
  those unfortunate individuals incur who attempt unsuccessfully to
  evade the tax; it may frequently ruin them; and thereby put an
  end to the benefit which the community might have received from
  the employment of their capitals。 An injudicious tax offers a
  great temptation to smuggling。 But the penalties of smuggling
  must rise in proportion to the temptation。 The law; contrary to
  all the ordinary principles of justice; first creates the
  temptation; and then punishes those who yield to it; and it
  commonly enhances the punishment; too; in proportion to the very
  circumstance which ought certainly to alleviate it; the
  temptation to commit the crime。 Fourthly; by subjecting the
  people to the frequent visits and the odious examination of the
  tax…gatherers; it may expose them to much unnecessary trouble;
  vexation; and oppression; and though vexation is not; strictly
  speaking; expense; it is certainly equivalent to the expense at
  which every man would be willing to redeem himself from it。 It is
  in some one or other of these four different ways that taxes are
  frequently so much more burdensome to the people than they are
  beneficial to the sovereign。
  The evident justice and utility of the foregoing maxims have
  recommended them more or less to the attention of all nations。
  All nations have endeavoured; to the best of their judgment; to
  render their taxes as equal as they could contrive; as certain;
  as convenient to the contributor; both in the time and in the
  mode of payment; and; in proportion to the revenue which they
  brought to the prince; as little burdensome to the people。 The
  following short review of some of the principal taxes which have
  taken place in different ages and countries will show that the
  endeavours of all nations have not in this respect been equally
  successful。
  ARTICLE I
  Taxes upon Rent。 Taxes upon the Rent of Land
  A tax upon the rent of land may either every district being
  valued at a certain rent; be imposed according to a certain
  canon; which valuation is not afterwards to be altered; or it may
  be imposed in such a manner as to vary with every variation in
  the real rent of the land; and to rise or fall with the
  improvement or declension of its cultivation。
  A land…tax which; like that of Great Britain; is assessed
  upon each district according to a certain invariable canon;
  though it should be equal at the time of its first establishment;
  necessarily becomes unequal in process of time; according to the
  unequal degrees of improvement or neglect in the cultivation of
  the different parts of the country。 In England; the valuation
  according to which the different countries and parishes were
  assessed to the land…tax by the 4th of William and Mary was very
  unequal even at its first establishment。 This tax; therefore; so
  far offends against the first of the four maxims above mentioned。
  It is perfectly agreeable to the other three。 It is perfectly
  certain。 The time of payment for the tax; being the same as that
  for the rent; is as convenient as it can be to the contributor
  though the landlord is in all cases the real contributor; the tax
  is commonly advanced by the tenant; to whom the landlord is
  obliged to allow it in the payment of the rent。 This tax is
  levied by a much smaller number of officers than any other which
  affords nearly the same revenue。 As the tax upon each district
  does not rise with the rise of the rent; the sovereign does not
  share in the profits of the landlord's improvements。 Those
  improvements sometimes contribute; indeed; to the discharge of
  the other landlords of the district。 But the aggravation of the
  tax which may sometimes occasion upon a particular estate is
  always so very small that it never can discourage those
  improvements; nor keep down the produce of the land below what it
  would otherwise rise to。 As it has no tendency to diminish the
  quantity; it can have none to raise the price of that produce。 It
  does not obstruct the industry of the people。 It subjects the
  landlord to no other inconveniency besides the unavoidable one of
  paying the tax。
  The advantage; however; which the landlord has derived from
  the invariable constancy of the valuation by which all the lands
  of Great Britain are rated to the land…tax; has been principally
  owing to some circumstances altogether extraneous to the nature
  of the tax。
  It has been owing in part to the great prosperity of almost
  every part of the country; the rents of almost all the estates of
  Great Britain having; since the time when this valuation was
  first established; been continually rising; and scarce any of
  them having fallen。 The landlords; therefore; have almost all
  gained the difference between the tax which they would have paid
  according to the present rent of their estates; and that which
  they actually pay according to the ancient valuation。 Had the
  state of the country been different; had rents been gradually
  falling in consequence of the declension of cultivation; the
  landlords would almost all have lost this difference。 In the
  state of things which has happened to take place since the
  revolution; the constancy of the valuation has been advantageous
  to the landlord and hurtful to the sovereign。 In a different
  state of things it might have been advantageous to the sovereign
  and hurtful to the landlord。
  As the tax is made payable in money; so the valuation of the
  land is expressed in money。 Since the establishment of this
  valuation the value of silver has been pretty uniform; and there
  has been no alteration in the standard of the coin either as to
  weight or fineness。 Had silver risen considerably in its value;
  as it seems to have done in the course of the two centuries which
  preceded the discovery of the mines of America; the constancy of
  the valuation might have proved very oppressive to the landlord。
  Had silver fallen considerably in its value; as it certainly did
  for about a century at least after the discovery of those mines;
  the same constancy of valuation would have reduced very much this
  branch of the revenue of the sovereign。 Had any considerable
  alteration been made in the standard of the money; either by
  sinking the same quantity of silver to a lower denomination; or
  by raising it to a higher; had an ounce of silver; for example;
  instead of being coined into five shillings and twopence; been
  coined either into pieces which bore so low a denomination as two
  shillings and sevenp