ce, that 800_l._ would procure me as much as 1000_l._
purchased before.

Taxation under every form presents but a choice of evils; if it does not
act on profit, it must act on expenditure; and provided the burden be
equally borne, and do not repress reproduction, it is indifferent on
which it is laid. Taxes on production, or on the profits of stock,
whether applied immediately to profits, or indirectly, by taxing the
land or its produce, have this advantage over other taxes; no class of
the community can escape them, and each contributes according to his
means.

From taxes on expenditure a miser may escape; he may have an income of
10,000 per annum, and expend only 300_l._; but from taxes on profits,
whether direct or indirect, he cannot escape; he will contribute to them
either by giving up a part or the value of a part of his produce; or by
the advanced prices of the necessaries essential to production, he will
be unable to continue to accumulate at the same rate. He may indeed have
an income of the same value, but he will not have the same command of
labour, nor of an equal quantity of materials on which such labour can
be exercised.

If a country is insulated from all others, having no commerce with any
of its neighbours, it can in no way shift any portion of its taxes from
itself. A portion of the produce of its land and labour will be devoted
to the service of the state; and I cannot but think that, unless it
presses unequally on that class which accumulates and saves, it will be
of little importance whether the taxes be levied on profits, on
agricultural, or on manufactured commodities. If my revenue be 1000_l._
per annum, and I must pay taxes to the amount of 100_l._, it is of
little importance whether I pay it from my revenue, leaving myself only
900_l._, or pay 100_l._ in addition for my agricultural commodities, or
for my manufactured goods. If 100_l._ is my fair proportion of the
expenses of the country, the virtue of taxation consists in making sure
that I shall pay that 100_l._, neither more nor less; and that cannot be
effected in any manner so securely as by taxes on wages, profits, or raw
produce.

The fourth and last objection which remains to be noticed is: That by
raising the price of raw produce, the prices of all commodities into
which raw produce enters, will be raised, and that therefore we shall
not meet the foreign manufacturer on equal terms in the general market.

In the first place, co