The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• To the Right Honourable the Earl of Lauderdale.
• Letters of Sidney. On Inequality of Property.
• Letter I.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter II.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter III.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter IV.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter V.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter VI.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter VII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter VIII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter IX.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter X.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XI.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XIII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XIV.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XV.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XVI.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XVII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• Letter XVIII.: To the Editor of the Scots Chronicle.
• The Effects of War On Commercial Prosperity.

LETTER XVII.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SCOTS CHRONICLE.

SIR,

November 25, 1796.

After having already shown that inequality of fortune generates all kinds of crimes, it will surely be unnecessary to enter into any discussion, to prove, that it increases the expences attendant on criminal justice. While the careless profusion of the rich opens a thousand doors to cheats, frauds and pilferings, the poor are tempted, by the desire of vicious indulgences, which they cannot otherwise attain, or, driven by real distress and imperious necessity, to the commission of slight acts of dishonesty, which gradually corrupt their moral feelings, and prepare them for the most flagitious crimes. Hence the necessity of further guards to property, of greater expence both in detecting and punishing offenders; hence, the increase of law and police officers, the houses of detension and punishment, which must be erected in every corner of the country, and the frequency of trials for petty offences, which, by ruining the characters of the delinquents, lay the foundation of more atrocious crimes.

The decay of public spirit, and the corruption which univerially prevails, occasion further expences to the state. No minister can now hope to remain in office, or to be permitted to execute even the most beneficial measures, unless, as it has been emphatically expressed, he greases the wheels of the political machine. For this purpose, pensions are bestowed, sinecure places are instituted; offices, of which the duty in done by a deputy, are multiplied without end; and, that corruption may be still further extended, the ingenious mode has been invented of burdening these office-bearers with annuities to others. When these measures are taken, the machine of government, meeting with no further interruption, goes on smoothly and quietly, even through the roughest roads, and and what appear the most imperviable morasses; but it cannot be denied, by the boldest advocate for this system, and all this oiling and greasing is with the blood and substance of the people. It is still in our recollection, that the sense of this truth was once so strong, as, during the calamitous period of the American war, to force a declaration from an unwilling House of Commons, that “the influence of the Crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished,” and although no steps were taken in cousequence of this resolution, except a paltry reform, of which the chief merit, as we are told by its author, was, that it prevented more essential reforms* ; yet so notorious is the truth which it contains, that it is still allowed to remain on the minutes, an irrefragable proof of the indolence or corruption of our representatives, without any minister having yet had the boldness to move that it be rescinded.

Thus inequality of property swells the amount of the national expenditure; rendering wars both more frequent and of longer duration; destroying the patriotism and energy of the people, the only “cheap defence of nations,” and thence demanding a greater military establishment during peace; occasioning greater difficulty in the suppression of crimes; and giving birth, to a wide, extended system of corruption. These additional expences should surely be defrayed by those overgrown fortunes by which they are rendered necessary. It is reasonable that the middling ranks of the community should bear a proportion of such burdens as are requisite for the general protection of property; but there is no justice whatever in their being made to contribute to those additional expences which arise from the immense wealth and pre-eminence of others.

I have now, Sir, considered this subject in several points of view; I have shown the expediency, I had almost said the necessity, of discouraging excessive inequality; I have proved, that taxes are much more severely felt by the poor, and those of small property, than by the rich; and I have shown, that a great part of the public expenditure is wholly to be attributed to the unavoidable consequences of inequality: I am, surely, fully warranted in drawing the inference, that the proportion which the taxes bear to the property of each contributor, ought to increase according to his opulence. I am sensible that difficulties will occur in carrying this principle into execution; but a legislator, who kept justice steadily in view, would approximate to, if he could not always keep accurately in the exact path, which she pointed out. To show how far our present system of taxation recedes from this line, would require a long, and, I fear, in the opinion many of your readers, a tedious investigation; on which account, I shall confine myself to one or two very general observations.

What are called the assessed taxes, such as those on land, houses, window lights, men servants, and saddle horses, can easily be accommodated to the principles of justice, because the proportion of the tax is obviously susceptible of a gradual increase. Thus, if a tax of a guinea is paid for one man servant, two guineas each should be paid for two, three guineas each for three, and so on in gradual progression. By this means, while a man, possessed of four or five hundred pounds a year, paid one guinea, the proprietor of a revenue of 10,000l a year, who would probably keep about a dozen of servants, would contribute 144 guineas to the expences of the state. The application of the same rule to the other assessed taxes is so easy as to require no further illustration.

It is more difficult to lay taxes on consumable commodities, in such a manner as to fall in due proportion on the rich; and this, among other reasons, induces me to give a decided preference to assessed taxes, which, if regulated as I have proposed, might, I believe, be fully sufficient to answer for all the necessary expences of the state. If, however, taxes on commodities are requisite, they should, undoubtedly, be laid on luxuries and superfluities; proper care being taken, that the tax, on no particular article, should be so high as to check its consumption, or give encouragement to the destructive practice of smuggling. This principle is so obvious, that it has been always admitted by our ministers in theory, though, I believe, the book of rates would distinctly show, that it has not been sufficiently attended to in practice. I am, I Sir,

Yours, &c.

Sidney.

[* ]The Contractor’s Bill, though a good measure, is scarcely entitled to be stated as a second exception.