say to the people, "Rejoice, good
people, for henceforth your taxes will not exceed 7s. 6d. a head all
round!" The English people would answer with great reason, that they
would much prefer to pay L40 a head, and be able to make L400.

It is not this or that particular sum per head on a population which
constitutes moderate or excessive taxation; but the relation which the
sum annually taken for the service of the State bears to the revenues
of the nation. It is just to take much from him who has much;
monstrous to attempt to take anything--be it never so little--from him
who has nothing. If you examine the question from this common sense
point of view, you will agree with me that taxation at the rate of 7s.
6,d. a head, is pretty heavy for the poor Romans.

But 7s. 6,d. a head is _not_ the rate at which they are taxed; nor
even double that amount. The Budget of Rome is L2,800,000, which is to
be assessed upon three million taxpayers.

Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, justice, and
humanity, but in such a manner that the heaviest burdens fall upon the
most useful, laborious, and interesting class of the nation, the small
proprietors.

And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to the State, and
admitted in the budget. Besides these, there are the provincial and
municipal charges, which, under the title of additional per-centage,
amount to more than double the direct taxes. The province of Bologna
pays L80,900 of property-tax, and L96,812 of provincial and municipal
charges, making together L177,712. This sum distributed over the whole
population of 370,107, brings the taxation to a fraction under 10s. a
head. But observe, that instead of being borne by the whole
population, it is borne by no more than 23,022 proprietors.

But mark a further injustice! It does not bear equally upon the
proprietors of the towns and those of the country. The former has a
great advantage over the latter. A town property in the province of
Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per cent., a country property of the same value
5s. 3d. per cent., not upon the income, but the capital.

In the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the middle
class that are the most heavily rated. Take the palace of a nobleman
in Bologna, and a small house belonging to a citizen, which adjoins
it. The palace is valued at the trifling sum of L1,100, on the ground
that the apartments inhabited by the owner are not included in the
inco