An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📖

of the

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