PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

466 Of Population, Pr(1)iJion,
remain on the wrong or the right ~ide of the acccUlJt 4
according as the money pas~·es by taxation from the
industrious to the idle, from the maA.y to the ft.,w,
from those who \vaPl to th()se who abound, or in a
contrary direction. I'-or instance, a tax upon coaches,
to be laid out in the repair uf roads, would prcbabfJ'
improve the population of a neighbourhood; a ta,:
upon cottages~ to be ultimately expended in the purchase
and sl~pport of coa(hes~ would certainly dinlin.
ish it. In liK.~ manner, a tax upon wine or tea dis ..
tributed in bounties to fi~herfIlen or huscanlinlen J
would augment the provi-ion of a country; a t~iX
upon fisheries and husbandry, hoviever indirect or
concealed, to_be converted, when raised, t() the procuring
of wine and tea for the idle and opulent. \Jlt(.uid
~aturalJy impair tIle public stock.
l'he effect, there­
( fore, of taxes upon the means of subsistenc~ dep[nds
not so much upon the amount of the sum levied~ as
I upon the object of the tax, and the application.
,*taxes likewise may be so adju!ited as to conduce to
: the. restraint of luxury, and the corrt:cti()ll of- \,ice ;
. to the encouragement of industry, trade, c:.griculture,
~nd _marriage.. Taxes, thus contrived, t'ecOI11~ rewards
and penalties; not orlly sources cf reverllle,
but instruments of police. Vices indeed thenl:;elves
cannot be taxed without hulding forth such a condi.
tional tolera.tion of them as to destroy nlell's percep ..
tion of their guilt: a tax comes to be considered as a
commutation: t!le Inaterials, however, alld incelltives
of vice may. Although, for instance, drunkenness
would be, on tllis account, an unfit object of
taxation, yet public houses and l'pirituous liquors ore
very properly subjected to heavy imposts.
Nevertheless, alth0ugh it may be true that taxes
~cannot be pronounced to be detrimental to popula­
and
tv' ~f~'" '-"'i.-tion, by any absolute necessity in their uature ~
1
t(f.- i~ ~ I sthough, under some modifications, and when urged
in
favour of it; yet it will be found, in a great plurality
{ of instances, that their tendency is noxious. Let it
1 be supposed that nine families' inhabit a neighbour-
'tt-rnf vr only to a certain extent, they may even op~rate