favourable to the revenue of the sovereign;
so far, at least, as that revenue depends upon
the duties of customs.
In consequence of that system, the importation
of several sorts of goods has been prohibited
altogether. This prohibition has, in
some cases, entirely prevented, and in others
has very much diminished, the importation of
those commodities, by reducing the importers
to the necessity of smuggling. It has entirely
prevented the importation of foreign wollens;
and it has very much diminished that
of foreign silks and velvets. In both cases,
it has entirely annihilated the revenue of customs
which might have been levied upon such
importation.
The high duties which have been imposed
upon the importation of many different sorts
of foreign goods in order to discourage their
consumption in Great Britain, have, in many
cases, served only to encourage smuggling,
and, in all cases, have reduced the revenues
of the customs below what more moderate
duties would have afforded. The saying of
Dr. Swift, that in the arithmetic of the customs,
two and two, instead of making four,
make sometimes only one, holds perfectly true
with regard to such heavy duties, which never
could have been imposed, had not the mercantile
system taught us, in many cases, to
employ taxation as an instrument, not of revenue,
but of monopoly.
The bounties which are sometimes given
upon the exportation of home produce and
manufactures, and the drawbacks which are
paid upon the re-exportation of the greater
part of foreign goods, have given occasion to
many frauds, and to a species of smuggling,
more destructive of the public revenue than
any other. In order to obtain the bounty or
drawback, the goods, it is well known, are
sometimes shipped, and sent to sea, but soon
afterwards clandestinely re-landed in some
other part of the country. The defalcation of
the revenue of customs occasioned by bounties
and drawbacks, of which a great part are
obtained fraudulently, is very great. The
gross produce of the customs, in the year
which ended on the 5th of January 1755, amounted
to L.5,068,000. The bounties
which were paid out of this revenue, though
in that year there was no bounty upon corn,
amounted to L.167,800. The drawbacks
which were paid upon debentures and certificates,
to L.2,156,800. Bounties and drawbacks
together amounted to L.2,324,600. In
consequence of these deductions, the revenue
of the customs amounted only to L.2,743,400;
from which deducting L.287,900 for the expense
of management, in salaries and other
incidents, the neat revenue of the customs for
that year comes out to be L.2,455,500. The
expense of management, amounts, in this
manner, to between five and six per cent.
upon the gross revenue of the customs; and
to something more than ten per cent. upon
what remains of that revenue, after deducting
what is paid away in bounties and drawbacks.
Heavy duties being imposed upon almost
all goods imported, our merchant importers
smuggle as much, and make entry of as little
as they can. Our merchant exporters, on
the contrary, make entry of more than they
export; sometimes out of vanity, and to pass
for great dealers in goods which pay no duty
and sometimes to gain a bounty or a drawback.
Our exports, in consequence of these
different frauds, appear upon the custom-house
books greatly to overbalance our imports,
to the unspeakable comfort of those
politicians, who measure the national prosperity
by what they call the balance of trade.
All goods imported, unless particularly
exempted, and such exemptions are not very
numerous, are liable to some duties of customs.
If any goods are imported, not mentioned
in the book of rates, they are taxed at
4s. 99⁄20d. for every twenty shillings value,
according to the oath of the importer, that is,
nearly at five subsidies, or five poundage
duties. The book of rates is extremely comprehensive,
and enumerates a great variety of
articles, many of them little used, and, therefore,
not well known. It is, upon this account,
frequently uncertain under what article
a particular sort of goods ought to be
classed, and, consequently what duty they
ought to pay. Mistakes with regard to this
sometimes ruin the custom-house officer, and
frequently occasion much trouble, expense,
and vexation to the importer. In point of
perspicuity, precision, and distinctness, therefore,
the duties of customs are much more inferior
to those of excise.
In order that the greater part of the members
of any society should contribute to the
public revenue, in proportion to their respective
expense, it does not seem necessary that
every single article of that expense should be
taxed. The revenue which is levied by the
duties of excise is supposed to fall as equally
upon the contributors as that which is levied
by the duties of customs; and the duties of
excise are imposed upon a few articles only
of the most general use and consumption.
It has been the opinion of many people, that,
by proper management, the duties of customs
might likewise, without any loss to the public
revenue, and with great advantage to foreign
trade, be confined to a few articles only.
The foreign articles, of the most general
use and consumption in Great Britain, seem
at present to consist chiefly in foreign wines
and brandies; in some of the productions of
America and the West Indies, sugar, rum,
tobacco, cocoa-nuts, &c. and in some of those
of the East Indies, tea, coffee, china-ware,
spiceries of all kinds, several sorts of piece-goods,
&c. These different articles afford,