Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/334

 312 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL least unsuitable objects of taxation where necessaries have to be taxed, then the choice lies between monopoly and other technical methods of taxation; and where financial exigencies make it necessary that the rate shall be very high, it would appear that monopoly is on the whole the most economical. It is true that France, Germany, and Russia have abandoned that mode, but they have only done so because they have been able to materially reduce the duty; with such rates as exist in Italy and India ordinary excise duty would be at once costly and inefficient. In the case of the latter country the ownership of the salt mines, where they exist, by the state naturally gives the monopoly of production. TOBACCO.roWe have now to consider a very different case from that just discussed. The introduction of tobacco into Europe seems to have excited the interest, if not the moral indignation, of other rulers than our own James I. It was very soon made an object of taxation. Richelieu, in 1629, established a duty of 30 sols per pound; in 1664 the duty was lowered, and French colonial tobacco (hitherto exempt) was also made chargeable at a lower rate. Colbert introduced the monopoly system in 1674 and further legislated for it in 1681; it included importation, produc- tion, manufacture, and sale. In accordance with practice it was farmed out, and thus continued till 1719, when the monopoly of sale was replaced by a fixed duty; but in 1721 it was re-established with a prohibition of home cultivation of tobacco, and placed in the hands of the East India Company till 1730. At that date it passed to the Farmers-General, who retained it up to the Revolu- tion. After considerable discussion and hesitation the Constituent Assembly resolved to abolish the monopoly and to impose import duty on raw tobacco, prohibiting all of foreign manufacture. This course, though in conformity th the doctrine 'that the land of France should be free in all its extent,' seriously affected the revenue, and a series of more or less effectual attempts was made to tax so promising a commodity, until finally, in 1810, 'apoleon I., whose regard for liberty was not as warm as that of the Constituent Assembly, reintroduced the monopoly. In spite of occasional protests the system has been continued ever snce, and received the full approval of an important commission presided over by Baron Dupin, which fully investigated its working i 1q35. Its productiveness, which is after all one of the mah elements to be taken into account in judging a particular tax, is best shown by the following table: