ts and
tradesmen, but it is understood that they recover the amount paid from
their customers. The principal part of such taxes in England consist of
the #customs duties# levied upon wine, spirits, tobacco, and a few other
articles, when they are imported for use in this country. #Excise
duties# are similar duties levied upon like goods produced within the
kingdom. These were called #excise#, because it was originally the
practice actually to cut off a portion of the goods themselves, and take
it as the duty. In England, excise duties are now levied on a few things
only, such as spirits and beer; and care is taken to make the excise
duty as nearly as possible equal to the customs duty on the same kind of
imported goods. English brandy pays a duty equivalent to that on French
brandy, and the matter is arranged so that the duty shall neither
encourage nor discourage the making of English brandy. Thus the trade is
left as free as it can be, consistently with raising a large revenue.
Another important class of indirect taxes consist of #the stamp duties#,
which are payments required from people when they make legal agreements
of various kinds. According to law, deeds, leases, cheques, receipts,
contracts, and many other documents are not legally valid unless they be
stamped, and the cost of the stamp varies from a penny up to hundreds or
even thousands of pounds, according to the value of the property dealt
with. Stamp duties are probably in most cases indirect taxes, but it
would be very difficult to say who really bears the cost; this must
depend much upon circumstances.

#97. Maxims of Taxation.# Adam Smith first stated certain rules, or
maxims, which should guide the statesman in laying on taxes; they are
such good rules that everybody who studies political economy ought to
learn them. They are as follows--

(1) The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support
of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their
respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they
respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.

This we may call the #maxim of equality#, and equality consists in
everybody paying, in one way or another, about an equal percentage of
the wages, salary, or other income which he receives. In England the
taxes amount to something like ten per cent., or one pound in every ten
pounds, and this is pretty equally borne by different classes of
society. It is