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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow BEER DUTIES BILL 13 June 1823 - The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 5 Speeches and Evidence

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BEER DUTIES BILL 13 June 1823 - David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 5 Speeches and Evidence [1819]

Edition used:

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 5 Speeches and Evidence 1815-1823.

Part of: The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 11 vols (Sraffa ed.)

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


BEER DUTIES BILL
13 June 1823

On the report of this bill (which added to the two kinds of beer, then taxed respectively 10s. and 2s. per barrel according to strength, an ‘intermediate beer’, to be taxed 5s., and prohibited the brewing of different kinds of beer on the same premises),

Mr. Ricardo thought the bill would be inoperative and it certainly was very unjust; as it, in fact, confiscated the property of the table-beer brewers. As to the idea of preventing weak beer from being put off on the public for strong, the public might be safely left to take care of itself. No harm could be done by passing the bill without the vexatious restrictions; at least for a year, by way of experiment.

On 17 June the bill was read a third time and passed. Ricardo voted against the third reading.