Page:Local taxation and poor law administration in great cities.djvu/9

5 sickness, accident, or poverty, those without whose labour their wealth would never have been created. Nay, more, as their wealth has increased, as the large towns have expanded, and as the burden of supporting the poor in the large towns has become heavier, the proportionate contribution of this class towards local taxation has actually diminished. They do not contribute upon their capital, because their capital consisting chiefly of personalty is, as a rule, exempted from liability. They do not contribute upon their domestic expenditure as they used to do, because the rich merchant, broker, or banker, instead of living as he formerly did, and as his fathers had done, on the spot where his business was carried on, and in the midst of those whom he employed, now lives out of town and beyond the area of its taxation. The amount, consequently, which he contributes to its poor rate is insignificant, if compared with his means. And I would ask whether it is unreasonable to suppose that this has something to do with the withdrawal of that class from the most important part of the duties of a good citizen—the guardianship of the poor. It is no slight evil that the class whose experience, from their having had to deal with expenditure on a large scale and with economy on a large scale, would be peculiarly valuable, should have almost entirely withdrawn themselves from parochial work.

After much inquiry into this subject, I find that, broadly speaking, the per-centage of his income that a man pays to the poor rates is often in the inverse ratio to the amount of his income. The wealthier he is the smaller the per-centage he pays. Take the case of a man doing a large business with only a moderately large office and warehouse. He only pays on the rent of his office or warehouse, whatever his profits may be. I know the case of merchants who have made the calculation, and find that their rates vary from ½ to 2 per cent, on their incomes, while the average per-centage of the rates of the porters in their employ amounts to 3¾ per cent, on their incomes. In other words, the labourers pay from twice to seven times as much in proportion to their incomes as do their employers, the merchants and brokers alluded to. And if you take the case of the shopkeepers, the inequality becomes even more apparent. The proportion of their income which two of the most prosperous shopkeepers in Liverpool pay to the poor rate amounts to 5 per cent., and if this is the case with these wealthy and prosperous tradesmen, how heavy must be the burden upon the men who are striving hard, and who barely succeed in gaining