Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/219

 of land and labour is the share, or ' excisum,' which ought to be sufficient for public uses. In the tract entitled 'Verbum Sapienti,' published during the Dutch war—when the burden of taxation had become intolerable, and was doubly odious from the want of success attending the operations at sea—he puts the monthly charge on landed estate of the taxes at 70,000l. a month, or 840,000l. a year; and hints at the probability of this charge rising to 250,000l. a month. He calculates that it amounts to one-third of the annual value; but that, if the charge were laid in a just proportion and on a proper basis, the charge would only be one-tenth. He considered, for example, that the City of London paid about half the proper contribution, 'because the housing of London belonged to the Church, the companies, or gentlemen, and is taxed by the citizens, their tenants.'

The expenses of the State he puts at one million, including war expenses. To meet this he estimated the 'ordinary' or ancient Revenue of the Crown as follows:

The above amounts do not include the duties on 'wares, wine, licenses, butlerage, excise, chimney money, the land tax, the poll tax, and the monthly assessment,' levied in order to make up the balance. These taxes he proposed to levy in the proportion of three-eighths on land and houses and the value of stock-in-trade, and five-eighths on consumption, believing that this distribution of burdens represented the true proportion of the value of the former to that of wages, and that it was fair to distribute taxes in proportion. The sum of 375,000l. he proposed to place on land and on stock-in-trade; and 625,000l.