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TIIK NATURE AND C A USDS OF

say, a part of this additional conveniency ; for he will seldombe obliged to give up the whole, but will, in consequence ofthe tax, get a better house for fifty pounds a year, than hecould have got if there had been no tax. For as a tax of thiskind, by taking away this particular competitor, must di-minish the competition for houses of sixty pounds rent, so itmust likewise diminish it for those of fifty pounds rent, andin the same manner for those of all other rents, except thelowest rent, for which it would for some time increase thecompetition. But the rents of every class of houses for whichthe competition was diminished, would necessarily be moreor less reduced. As no part of this reduction, however,could, for any considerable time at least, affect the buildingrent; the whole of it must in the long-run necessarily fallupon the ground-rent. The final payment of this tax, there-fore, would fall, partly upon the inhabitant of the house, who,in order to pay his share, would be obliged to give up a partof his conveniency; and partly upon the owner of the ground,' who, in order to pay his share, would be obliged to give upa part of his revenue. In what proportion this final paymentwould be divided between them, it is not perhaps very easyto ascertain. The division would probably be very differentin different circumstances, and a tax of this kind might, accord-ing to those different circumstances, affect very unequallyboth the inhabitant of the house and the owner of the ground.

The inequality with which a tax of this kind might fallupon the owners of different ground-rents would arise alto-gether from the accidental inequality of this division. Butthe inequality with which it might fall upon the inhabitantsof different houses would arise, not only from this, but fromanother cause. The proportion of the expense of house-rentto the whole expense of living, is different in the differentdegrees of fortune. It is perhaps highest in the highest de-gree, and it diminishes gradually through the inferior de-grees, so as in general to be lowest in the lowest tlegree.The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of thepoor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater partof their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuriesand vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich ;and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the bestadvantage all the other luxuries and vanities which theypossess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in generalfall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality