Page:Ferdinand Lassalle - The Working Man's Programme - tr. Edward Peters (1884).djvu/41

 In relation to the most important and fundamental point, the composition of the State, we have already seen this. As, in the middle ages, the possession of land was the ruling principle of the representation in the German Parliament, so now by means of the direct or the disguised census, the payment of taxes, and consequently, as this is conditioned by the capital which a man possesses, the possession of capital, is ultimately that which determines the right of election to the Chambers, and consequently the participation in power over the State.

And so with regard to all the other arrangements in which I have proved to you that the landed interest was the ruling principle in the Middle Ages.

I have drawn your attention to the freedom from taxation of the nobles who then possessed the land; and I told you that every dominant privileged class endeavours to shift the burden of supporting the expenses of the State on the oppressed classes who have no property.

The Bourgeoisie have done precisely the same. It is true they cannot openly declare that they intend to be free of taxation. The principle that they express is on the contrary that every one should pay taxes according to his income. But they attain to the same result in a disguised form, at least as far as it goes, by the distinction between direct and indirect taxes.

Direct taxes, gentlemen, are those which like the classified income tax, or the class taxes, are raised from income, and are therefore fixed according to the amount of the income and capital. Indirect taxes, on the other