2

■WHO PAYS YOUR TAXES?

A. L. Chapin 1 2 somewhat ludicrously says, that “ there isfound to be an advantage in combining different systemsof taxation, so that the defects of one shall be balancedby the defects of another, while the advantages of all aresecured.” That is as though a doctor should say thatthe disadvantages of antipyrenes, sudorifics, and sedativesare such that it has been found best to dose patients forevery disease, with a view to combine the advantages ofall remedies. Yet such is the common procedure.

It is not wonderful, however, that taxation should beof so chaotic a character . 3 It originated either in simplerobbery or extortion by chiefs and kings, or in the priceof protection from robbery , 3 and as far as it has been con-trolled by any practical theory it has been the theory ofthe blackmailer or the bandit; that is, to prey upon itsvictims just to such an extent and in such ways as willleave the payees able to respond to further exactions.

This is what we might call, after Colbert’s famous say-ing, the goose-plucking system of taxation. It has beensucceeded, in theory at least, by taxes imposed by thepeople themselves for their common needs. What, then,

1 Johnson’s Encyclopaedia.

2 “ The systems for raising revenues in the different States by the nationalGovernment grew up under the force of accident and circumstances ratherthan as the result of consideration and inquiry.” From the “ Report of theCommissioners of 1871, to Revise the New York Tax Laws,” by David A.Wells and Messrs. Dodge & Cuyler.

8 Blanqui : “ History of Political Economy in Europe.” Also Denslow’s•' Principles of Economic Philosophy,” Cassell, p. 452. McCulloch’sSmith’s ‘‘ Wealth of Nations,” Black & Tait’s edition, pp. 4x2-414.