I suppose we have hardly less than 15,000 Persons employed, in the Kingdom, and upon the Coasts thereof, to collect, mange, and look after the revenue in every Respect, besides a considerable Number of Vessels; the Charge of which, and Salaries of all these Officers of every Class, together with the Perquisites they receive from the People, which affect the Price of Goods just as if it were all nett Duty paid into the Treasury;all these Charges taken together, I suppose, may very moderately be rekoned equal to 100 l. per Annum, at a Medium, for each of those Persons. so that the Nation is thus necessarily put to a Million and an half Charge by these Officers; and if we suppose the Duties on Goods, and the Charge of collecting them, to be equal to 1/6 of the gross Value of them, then the gross Value will at this Rate be 33 Millions. Now since those that disburse the Duties, and Charge of collecting them, must have a suitable Profit to every Hand through which the Goods pass to the Consumers, I will suppose these Profits to inhance the Value of the Goods to the Consumers 8 per cent(25*) this will occasion a further Charge to the Nation of 2,640,000 l. per annum. So that collecting four Millions for the Government on Goods, puts the Nation to above four Millions more Charge, than would be sufficient to raise the same Supply by way of Land-tax only. And I verily believe, I have not exceeded in any of my Suppositions;or if I have, I doubt not that I am still in the whole Charge enough within Compass, and that this Way of Reasoning is just.
But before I proceed to shew that this whole Charge of 8Millions, which is equal to 8 Shillings in the Pound on the Rental of the Kingdom, will all fall ultimately on the Land, it is needful to shew that the Land gives all we have.
That the Land gives all we have, would be self-evident, if we did not import many Goods which are the Produce of other Nations:
But this makes no Alteration in the Case; since the Quantity of foreign Goods we import, can't continually be of greater Value than the Goods we export, because this, in the End, must exhaust all our Cash, and so put an End to that Excess. Therefore the Goods we import stand only in Place, and in Stead of those we export; consequently the Land gives not only all we have of our own Produce, etc. but virtually all we receive from other Nations; since it produces and delivers, at least, a Quantity equal in Value to the Quantity of Goods we import. And as I have now proved that the Land gives all we have, notwithstanding the Importation of any Quantity of foreign Goods, I will next shew that it must pay all the Taxes, levy them how we will. I might without going any further, insist on it, as a self-evident Principle, that that which gives all must pay all; but I will shew how this comes to pass in this Case. It hath been laid down as a certain Principle, That the Price of Goods to the Consumers in general, depends on, and is governed by, and will always be more or less, according as the Quantity of Cash circulating amongst the People is more or less, in Proportion to their Numbers.
And as the Rents of Lands depend also on this Principle, Iwill shew what the Rents of Lands will be in Consequence thereof.
Now the Rents of Lands can be no greater (nay they ought not to be so great) than the Overplus which remains to the Farmers, after all charges, together with their own Subsistence, are deducted out of the Price or sum, the Produce of the Land they rent fetches at Market; and Experience shews, the Rents of Lands will always be very near as much as this, since the Farmers in general, as well as every body else, find it as much as they can well do to pay their Rents. But to proceed.
Suppose the Cash, amongst the People in general, to be what it now is; and that all the Taxes were taken off Goods; it's evident, this would not, in the End, lower the Price of Goods to the Consumers; since that Price, by the Principle laid down, depends on the Quantity of Money circulating amongst the People:
But if the Duties were taken off Goods, they must cost as much less than they do now, as the Taxes now on them, with the Charges of collecting, etc. now inhance them; therefore, I think, if the Taxes were taken off Goods, and laid on Lands and Houses only, so much more Money must in this Case come to the Hands of the Farmers for the Produce of the Ground, as would enable them to pay as much larger Rents than they now can do, as would double the Land-tax, if the whole supply were raised this Way only: and this I conclude must be so, because the Charge of collecting the Duties on Goods is, as hath been shewn, about equal to the nett Supply for the Government, whilst the Charge of collecting the Supply by Way of Land-tax, doth not exceed 1/40 Part of the Charge of collecting in on Goods, as hath also been shewn.
But that I may make it evident that the Taxes, and all Charges which attend collecting them on Goods, must lessen the Rents as much as they amount to, I reason thus: The Produce of the Ground, when fitted for the Consumer, fetches a certain Sum of Money, out of which all charges, from the raising it out of the Earth to the fitting it for the Consumer, must be deducted, together with the Taxes, and all Charges they occasion by collecting them; and the Overplus, after these are all deducted, is all the Rent that can possibly be paid.
