Page:Sir William Petty - A Study in English Economic Literature - 1894.djvu/77

78 tax dealt with is the excise (chapter xv). The principle of equable taxation is, that men should contribute to the public charge according to the share they have in the public peace, i. e., according to their estates or riches. Now, as there are two sorts of riches, actual and potential, which is to be taken as the object of taxation? "Every man ought to contribute according to what he taketh to himself, and actually enjoyeth" (83). The first step is to estimate the total wealth of the kingdom. Its annual yield from all sources that are known must be deducted from the whole known expense. The remainder is the product of the annual labor power of the whole people. The amount to be raised is levied according to the ratio each source of wealth bears to the total wealth. To use an example in the "Verbum Sapienti," if the annual proceed of the stock of a nation yield fifteen millions and the labor of the people yield twenty-five millions, then three-eighths of the tax is to be laid on the stock, including land, cattle, personal estates and housing, and five-eighths must be levied on the people by an equal poll-tax (477).

Properly, every article should be taxed when ready for consumption. For example, on corn should be accumulated the charges of grinding, bolting and yeast, unless these particulars can be best rated apart. Domestic commodities should, if exported, pay no excise. Imported foreign goods should pay.

A different form of this tax is called an accumulative excise (85). By this tax many things together are taxed as one commodity; for example, in the tax on cloth, the wool, tools, and workmanship may well enough be included. This principle has been carried