An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith (ebooks children's books free .TXT) 📗
- Author: Adam Smith
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church is taxed much higher than that of lay proprietors. The
revenue of the church is, the greater part of it, a burden upon
the rent of land. It seldom happens that any part of it is
applied towards the improvement of land; or is so employed as to
contribute, in any respect, towards increasing the revenue of the
great body of the people. His Prussian majesty had probably, upon
that account, thought it reasonable that it should contribute a
good deal more towards relieving the exigencies of the state. In
some countries, the lands of the church are exempted from all
taxes. In others, they are taxed more lightly than other lands.
In the duchy of Milan, the lands which the church possessed
before 1575, are rated to the tax at a third only or their value.
In Silesia, lands held by a noble tenure are taxed three per
cent. higher than those held by a base tenure. The honours and
privileges of different kinds annexed to the former, his Prussian
majesty had probably imagined, would sufficiently compensate to
the proprietor a small aggravation of the tax; 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 than 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. { Memoires concernant les Droits, etc. tom. ii p. 139,
etc.} 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 in 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 beforehand 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 differrent 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 expensive improvements; nor the other to raise the most
valuable, which are generally, too, the most expensive crops;
when the church, which lays out no part of the expense, is to
share so very largely in the profit. The cultivation of madder
was, for a long time, confined by the tythe to the United
Provinces, which, being presbyterian countries, and upon that
account exempted from this destructive tax, enjoyed a sort of
monopoly of that useful dyeing drug against the rest of Europe.
The late attempts to introduce the culture of this plant into
England, have been made only in consequence of the statute, which
enacted that five shillings an acre should be received in lieu of
all manner of tythe upon madder.
As through the greater part of Europe, the church, so in many
different countries of Asia, the state, is principally supported
by a land tax, proportioned not to the rent, but to the produce
of the land. In China, the principal revenue of the sovereign
consists in a tenth part of the produce of all the lands of the
empire. This tenth part, however, is estimated so very
moderately, that, in many provinces, it is said not to exceed a
thirtieth part of the ordinary produce. The land tax or land rent
which used to be paid to the Mahometan government of Bengal,
before that country fell into the hands of the English East India
company, is said to have amounted to about a fifth part of the
produce. The land tax of ancient Egypt is said likewise to have
amounted to a fifth part.
In Asia, this sort of land tax is said to interest the sovereign
in the improvement and cultivation of land. The sovereigns
of China, those of Bengal while under the Mahometan govermnent,
and those of ancient Egypt, are said, accordingly, to have been
extremely attentive to the making and maintaining of good roads
and navigable canals, in order to increase, as much as possible,
both the quantity and value of every part of the produce of the
land, by procuring to every part of it the most extensive market
which their own dominions could afford. The tythe of the church
is divided into such small portions that no one of its
proprietors can have any interest of this kind. The parson of a
parish could never find his account. in making a road or canal to
a distant part of the country, in order to extend the market for
the produce of his own particular parish. Such taxes, when
destined for the maintenance of the state, have some advantages,
which may serve in some measure to balance their inconveniency.
When destined for the maintenance of the church, they are
attended with nothing but inconveniency.
Taxes upon the produce of land may be levied, either in kind, or,
according to a certain valuation in money.
The parson of a parish, or a gentleman of small fortune who lives
upon his estate, may sometimes, perhaps find some advantage in
receiving, the one his tythe, and the other his rent, in kind.
The quantity to be collected, and the district within which it is
to be collected, are so small, that they both can oversee, with
their own eyes, the collection and disposal of every part of what
is due to them. A gentleman of great fortune, who lived in the
capital, would be in danger of suffering much by the neglect, and
more by the fraud, of his factors and agents, if the rents of an
estate in a distant province were to be paid to him in this
manner. The loss of the sovereign, from the abuse and depredation
of his tax-gatherers, would necessarily be much greater. The
servants of the most careless private person are, perhaps, more
under the eye of their master than those of the most careful
prince; and a public revenue, which was paid in kind, would
suffer so much from the mismanagement of the collectors, that a
very small part of what was levied upon the people would ever
arrive at the treasury of the prince. Some part of the public
revenue of China, however, is said to be paid in this manner. The
mandarins and other tax-gatherers will, no doubt, find their
advantage in continuing the practice of a payment, which is so
much more liable to abuse than any payment in money.
A tax upon the produce of land, which is levied in money, may be
levied, either according to a valuation, which varies with all
the variations of the market price ; or according to a fixed
valuation, a bushel of wheat, for example, being always valued at
one and the same money price, whatever may be the state of the
market. The produce of a tax levied in the former way will vary
only according to the variations in the real produce of the land,
according to the improvement or neglect
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