t 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."

If the tax be shifted by the tenant not on the landlord but on the
consumer, then if it be not unequal at first, it can never become so;
for the price of produce has been at once raised in proportion to the
tax, and will afterwards vary no more on that account. It may offend if
unequal, as I have attempted to shew that it will, against the fourth
maxim above mentioned, but it will not offend against the first. It may
take more out of the pockets of the people than it brings into the
public treasury of the state, but it will not fall unequally on any
particular class of contributors. M. Say appears to me to have mistaken
the nature and effects of the English land-tax, when he says, "Many
persons attribute to this fixed valuation, the great prosperity of
English agriculture. That it has very much contributed to it there can
be no doubt. But what should we say to a Government, which, addressing
itself to a small trader, should hold this language: 'With a small
capital you are carrying on a limited trade, and your direct
contribution is in consequence very small. Borrow, and accumulate
capital; extend your trade, so that it may procure you immense profits;
yet you shall never pay a greater contribution. Moreover, when your
successors shall inherit your profits, and shall have further increased
them, they shall not be valued higher to them than they are to you; and
your successors shall not bear a greater portion of the public burdens.'

"Without doubt this would be a great encouragement given to manufactures
and trade; but would it be just? Could not their advancement be
obtained at any other price? In England itself, has not manufacturing
and commercial industry made even greater progress, since the same
period, without being distinguished with so much partiality? A landlord
by his assiduity, economy, and skill, increases his annual revenue by
5000 francs. If the state claim of him the fifth part of his augmented
income, will there not remain 4000 francs of increase to stimulate his
further exertions?"

If Mr. Say's suggestion were followed, and the state were to claim the
fifth part of the augmented income of the farmer, it would be a partial
tax, acting on the farmer's profits, and not affecting the profits of