while, at the same time, the humiliating inferiority
of the latter would be in some measure
alleviated, by being taxed somewhat more
lightly. In other countries, the system of
taxation, instead of alleviating, aggravates this
inequality. In the dominions of the king of
Sardinia, and in those provinces of France
which are subject to what is called the real or
predial taille, the tax falls altogether upon the
lands held by a base tenure. Those held by a
noble one are exempted.
A land tax assessed according to a general
survey and valuation, how equal soever it may
be at first, must, in the course of a very moderate
period of time, become unequal. To
prevent its becoming so would require the
continual and painful attention of government
to all the variations in the state and
produce of every different farm in the country.
The governments of Prussia, of Bohemia,
of Sardinia, and of the duchy of Milan,
actually exert an attention of this kind; an
attention so unsuitable to the nature of government,
that it is not likely to be of long
continuance, and which, if it is continued, will
probably, in the long-run, occasion much more
trouble and vexation then it can possibly bring
relief to the contributors.
In 1666, the generality of Montauban was
assessed to the real or predial taille, according,
it is said, to a very exact survey and valuation.[57]
By 1727, this assessment had become
altogether unequal. In order to remedy
this inconveniency, government has found no
better expedient, than to impose upon the
whole generality an additional tax of a hundred
and twenty thousand livres. This additional
tax is rated upon all the different districts
subject to the taille according to the old
assessment. But it is levied only upon those
which, in the actual state of things, are by
that assessment under-taxed; and it is applied
to the relief of those which, by the same assessment,
are over-taxed. Two districts, for
example, one of which ought, in the actual
state of things, to be taxed at nine hundred,
the other at eleven hundred livres, are, by the
old assessment, both taxed at a thousand
livres. Both these districts are, by the additional
tax, rated at eleven hundred livres each.
But this additional tax is levied only upon the
district under-charged, and it is applied altogether
to the relief of that overcharged, which
consequently pays only nine hundred livres.
The government neither gains nor loses by
the additional tax, which is applied altogether
to remedy the inequalities arising from the
old assessment. The application is pretty
much regulated according to the discretion of
the intendant of the generality, and must,
therefore, be in a great measure arbitrary.
Taxes which are proportioned, not to the Rent,
but to the Produce of Land.
Taxes upon the produce of land are, in
reality, taxes upon the rent; and though they
may be originally advanced by the farmer,
are finally paid by the landlord. When a
certain portion of the produce is to be paid
away for a tax, the farmer computes as well
as he can, what the value of this portion is, one
year with another, likely to amount to, and he
makes a proportionable abatement in the rent
which he agrees to pay to the landlord.
There is no farmer who does not compute before
hand what the church tythe, which is a
land tax of this kind, is, one year with another,
likely to amount to.
The tythe, and every other land tax of this
kind, under the appearance of perfect equality,
are very unequal taxes; a certain portion
of the produce being in different situations,
equivalent to a very different portion
of the rent. In some very rich lands, the
produce is so great, that the one half of it is
fully sufficient to replace to the farmer his
capital employed in cultivation, together with
the ordinary profits of farming stock in the
neighbourhood. The other half, or, what
comes to the same thing, the value of the
other half, he could afford to pay as rent to
the landlord, if there was no tythe. But if
a tenth of the produce is taken from him in
the way of tythe, he must require an abatement
of the fifth part of his rent, otherwise
he cannot get back his capital with the ordinary
profit. In this case, the rent of the
landlord, instead of amounting to a half, or
five-tenths of the whole produce, will amount
only to four-tenths of it. In poorer lands,
on the contrary, the produce is sometimes so
small, and the expense of cultivation so great,
that it requires four-fifths of the whole produce,
to replace to the farmer his capital with
the ordinary profit. In this case, though
there was no tythe, the rent of the landlord
could amount to no more than one-fifth or
two-tenths of the whole produce. But if the
farmer pays one-tenth of the produce in the
way of tythe, he must require an equal abatement
of the rent of the landlord, which will
thus be reduced to one-tenth only of the
whole produce. Upon the rent of rich lands
the tythe may sometimes be a tax of no more
than one-fifth part, or four shillings in the
pound; whereas upon that of poorer lands, it
may sometimes be a tax of one half, or of ten
shillings in the pound.
The tythe, as it is frequently a very unequal
tax upon the rent, so it is always a great
discouragement, both to the improvements of
the landlord, and to the cultivation of the farmer.
The one cannot venture to make the
most important, which are generally the most