82G THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

supply the demand for useful labour; whatever may be thestate of that demand, whether increasing, stationary, or de-clining; or such as requires an increasing, stationary, or de-clining population.

Taxes upon luxuries have no tendency to raise the priceof any other commodities except that of the commoditiestaxed. Taxes upon necessaries, by raising the wages of la-bour, necessarily tend to raise the price of all manufactures,and consequently to diminish the extent of their sale andconsumption. Taxes upon luxuries are finally paid by theconsumers of the commodities taxed, without any retribu-tion. They fall indifferently upon every species of revenue,the wages of labour, the profits of stock, and the rent of land.Taxes upon necessaries, so far as they affect the labouringpoor, are finally paid, partly by landlords in the diminishedrent of their lands, and partly by rich consumers, whetherlandlords or others, in the advanced price of manufacturedgoods; and always with a considerable over-charge. Theadvanced price of such manufactures as are real necessariesof life, and are destined for the consumption of the poor, ofcoarse woollens, for example, must be compensated to thepoor by a farther advancement of their wages. The mid-dling and superior ranks of people, if they understood theirown interest, ought always to oppose all taxes upon the ne-cessaries of life, as well, as all direct taxes upon the wagesof labour. The final payment of both one and the otherfalls altogether upon themselves, and always with a consider-able overcharge. They fall heaviest upon the landlords,who always pay in a double capacity ; in that of landlords,by the reduction of their rent; and in that of rich consumers,by the increase of their expense. The observation of SirMatthew Decker, that certain taxes are, in the price of cer-tain goods, sometimes repeated and accumulated four or fivetimes, is perfectly just with regard to taxes upon the neces-saries of life. In the price of leather, for example, you mustpay, not only for the tax upon the leather of your own shoes,but for a part of that upon those of the shoemaker and thetanner. You must pay too for the tax upon the salt, uponthe soaj), aud upon the candles which those workmen con-sume while employed in your service, and for the tax uponthe leather, which the saltmaker, the soapmaker, and thecandlemaker consume while employed in their service.

Jn Great Britain, the principal taxes upon the necessaries