892

Til K NATURE AND CAUSES OF

manufacture, or, if the circumstances of the trade renderedsuch an excise improper, by laying a duty upon its importa-tion into the colony in which it was to be consumed. Besidesthe duty of one penny a gallon imposed by the British par-liament upon the importation of molasses into America ; thereis a provincial tax of this kind upon their importation intoMassachusetts Bay, in ships belonging to any other colony,of eight-pence the hogshead; and another upon their im-portation, from the northern colonies into South Carolina ,of five-pence the gallon. Or if neither of these methods wasfound convenient, each family might compound for its con-sumption of'this liquor, either according to the number ofpersons of which it consisted, in the same manner as privatefamilies compound for the malt tax in England ; or accord-ing to the dilFerent ages and sexes of those persons, in thesame manner as several different taxes are levied in Holland ;or nearly as Sir Matthew Becker proposes that all taxes uponconsumable commodities should be levied in England. Thismode of taxation, it has already been observed, when appliedto objects of a speedy consumption, is not a very convenientone. It might be adopted, however, in cases where nobetter could be done.

Sugar, rum, and tobacco, are commodities which arc nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almostuniversal consumption, and which are therefore extremelyproper subjects of taxation. If a union with the colonieswere to take place, those commodities might be taxed eitherbefore they go out of the hands of the manufacturer or grower ;or if this mode of taxation did not suit the circumstances ofthose persons, they might be deposited in public warehousesboth at the place of manufacture, and at all the different portsof the empire to which they might afterward be transported,to remain there, under the joint custody of the owner andthe revenue officer, till such time as they should be deliveredout either to the consumer, to the merchant retailer for home-consumption, or to the merchant exporter, the tax not to beadvanced till such delivery. When delivered out for exporta-tion, to go duty free; upon proper security being given thatthey should really be exported out of the empire. These areperhaps the principal commodities with regard to which aunion with the-colonies might require some considerablechange in the present system of British taxation.

What might, be the amountof the revenue which this system