is also the more expensive.

The second duty of the sovereign, that of protecting, as far as
possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression
of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact
administration of justice, requires an increasing expenditure
corresponding to the advance and development of the society.

Public works and public institutions are a third cause of expenditure on
the part of sovereign or commonwealth; and have two principal
objects--that of facilitating the commerce of the society and that of
promoting the instruction of the people. Roads, bridges, canals, are
examples of the former; schools, universities, established Churches are
examples of the latter. And among other expenses of the sovereign or
commonwealth we must include the expenses of supporting the dignity of
the sovereign.

The funds or sources of revenue which peculiarly belong to the sovereign
or commonwealth consist either in stock or in land; but being quite
insufficient to meet the public expenditure they are supplemented by
taxation. Every tax is finally paid from rent, profit or wages, or from
all of them indifferently; and the chief principle to be observed in
taxation is, that the subjects of the 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. The tax which
each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain and not arbitrary;
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; and finally,
every tax ought to be so contrived as 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.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The World's Greatest Books--Volume
14--Philosophy and Economics, by Various

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