SECT. III.

Different Sorts of Taxes , with their Advantages andD’fadvantages.

All taxes are laid upon perfons ; but in dif.ferent refpedts: a tax laid on a man perfonaliy, farhimfelf and family , is termed a capitation - tax ;a tax laid on him for his property, is termed atax on goods. The latter is the only rational tax,becaufe it may be proportioned to the ability ofthe proprietor. It has only one inconvenience, thathis debts muff be overlooked ; becaufe to take thefeinto the account, would lead to endlefs intricacies.But there is an obvious remedy for that incon-venience: let the man who complains free himfelfof debt, by felling land or moveables; which willfo far relieve him of the tax. Nor ought thismeafure to be confidered as a hardship: it is feldomthe intereft of a landholder to be in debt; and withrefpeCt to the public , the meafure not only pro-motes the circulation of property , but is favorableto creditors, by procuring them payment. A capi-tation-tax goes upon an erroneous principle, as ifall men were of equal ability. What prompts it is,that many men, rich in bonds and other moveablesthat can eafily be hid from public infpection, cannotbe reached otherwife than by a capitation-tax. Butas, by the very fuppofition, fuch men cannot be