induced at a great expense to improve the productive powers of his land,
by manuring, draining, fencing, &c., he would contribute to the poor
rates, not in proportion to the actual rent paid to the landlord, but to
the actual annual value of the land. The rate might equal or exceed the
rent; but whether it did or not, no part of this rate would be paid by
the landlord. It would have been previously calculated upon by the
tenant; and if the price of produce were not sufficient to compensate
him for all his expenses, together with this additional charge for poor
rates, his improvements would not have been undertaken. It is evident
then that the tax in this case is paid by the consumer; for if there had
been no rate, the same improvements would have been undertaken, and the
usual and general rate of profits would have been obtained on the stock
employed, with a lower price of corn.

Nor would it make the slightest difference in this question, if the
landlord had made these improvements himself, and had in consequence
raised his rent from 100_l._ to 500_l._; the rate would be equally
charged to the consumer; for whether he should expend a large sum of
money on his land, would depend on the rent, or what is called rent,
which he would receive as a remuneration for it; and this again would
depend on the price of corn, or other raw produce, being sufficiently
high not only to cover this additional rent, but also the rate to which
the land would be subject. But if at the same time all manufacturing
capital contributed to the poor rates, in the same proportion as the
capital expended by the farmer or landlord in improving the land, then
it would no longer be a partial tax on the profits of the farmer's or
landlord's capital, but a tax on the capital of all producers; and
therefore it could no longer be shifted either on the consumer of raw
produce or on the landlord. The farmer's profits would feel the effect
of the rate no more than those of the manufacturer; and the former could
not, any more than the latter, plead it as a reason for an advance in
the price of his commodity. It is not the absolute, but the relative
fall of profits, which prevents capital from being employed in any
particular trade: it is the difference of profit which sends capital
from one employment to another.

It must be acknowledged however, that in the actual state of the poor
rates, a much larger amount falls on the farmer than on the
manufacturer, i