So many philosophical1 works have been written on the nature of impost2, that we need say very little about it here. It is true that nothing is less philosophical than this subject; but it may enter into moral philosophy by representing to a superintendent3 of finances or to a Turkish teftardar that it accords not with universal morals to take his neighbor’s money; and that all receivers and custom-house officers and collectors of taxes are cursed in the gospel.
Cursed as they are, it must, however, be agreed that it is impossible for society to subsist4 unless each member pays something towards the expenses of it; and as, since every one ought to pay, it is necessary to have a receiver, we do not see why this receiver is to be cursed and regarded as an idolater. There is certainly no idolatry in receiving money of guests to-day for their supper.
In republics, and states which with the name of kingdoms are really republics, every individual is taxed according to his means and to the wants of society.
In despotic kingdoms — or to speak more politely — in monarchical5 states, it is not quite the same — the nation is taxed without consulting it. An agriculturist who has twelve hundred livres of revenue is quite astonished when four hundred are demanded of him. There are several who are even obliged to pay more than half of what they receive.
The cultivator demands why the half of his fortune is taken from him to pay soldiers, when the hundredth part would suffice. He is answered that, besides the soldiers, he must pay for luxury and the arts; that nothing is lost; and that in Persia towns and villages are assigned to the queen to pay for her girdles, slippers6, and pins.
He replies that he knows nothing of the history of Persia, and that he should be very indignant if half his fortune were taken for girdles, pins, and shoes; that he would furnish them from a better market, and that he endures a grievous imposition.
He is made to hear reason by being put into a dungeon7, and having his goods put up to sale. If he resists the tax-collectors whom the New Testament8 has damned, he is hanged, which renders all his neighbors infinitely9 accommodating.
Were this money employed by the sovereign in importing spices from India, coffee from Mocha, English and Arabian horses, silks from the Levant, and gew-gaws from China, it is clear that in a few years there would not remain a single sous in the kingdom. The taxes, therefore, serve to maintain the manufacturers; and so far what is poured into the coffers of the prince returns to the cultivators. They suffer, they complain, and other parts of the state suffer and complain also; but at the end of the year they find that every one has labored10 and lived some way or other.
If by chance a clown goes to the capital, he sees with astonishment11 a fine lady dressed in a gown of silk embroidered12 with gold, drawn13 in a magnificent carriage by two valuable horses, and followed by four lackeys14 dressed in a cloth of twenty francs an ell. He addresses himself to one of these lackeys, and says to him: “Sir, where does this lady get money to make such an expensive appearance?” “My friend,” says the lackey15, “the king allows her a pension of forty thousand livres.” “Alas,” says the rustic16, “it is my village which pays this pension.” “Yes,” answers the servant; “but the silk that you have gathered and sold has made the stuff in which she is dressed; my cloth is a part of thy sheep’s wool; my baker17 has made my bread of thy corn; thou hast sold at market the very fowls18 that we eat; thus thou seest that the pension of madame returns to thee and thy comrades.”
The peasant does not absolutely agree with the axioms of this philosophical lackey; but one proof that there is something true in his answer is that the village exists, and produces children who also complain, and who bring forth19 children again to complain.
§ II.
If we were obliged to read all the edicts of taxation20, and all the books written against them, that would be the greatest tax of all.
We well know that taxes are necessary, and that the malediction21 pronounced in the gospel only regards those who abuse their employment to harass22 the people. Perhaps the copyist forgot a word, as for instance the epithet23 pravus. It might have meant pravus publicanus; this word was much more necessary, as the general malediction is a formal contradiction to the words put into the mouth of Jesus Christ: “Render unto C?sar the things which are C?sar’s.” Certainly those who collected the dues of C?sar ought not to have been held in horror. It would have been, at once, insulting the order of Roman Knights24 and the emperor himself; nothing could have been more ill-advised.
In all civilized25 countries the imposts are great, because the charges of the state are heavy. In Spain the articles of commerce sent to Cadiz, and thence to America, pay more than thirty per cent. before their transit26 is accomplished27.
In England all duty upon importation is very considerable; however, it is paid without murmuring; there is even a pride in paying it. A merchant boasts of putting four or five thousand guineas a year into the public treasury28. The richer a country is, the heavier are the taxes. Speculators would have taxes fall on landed productions only. What! having sown a field of flax, which will bring me two hundred crowns, by which flax a great manufacturer will gain two hundred thousand crowns by converting it into lace — must this manufacturer pay nothing, and shall I pay all, because it is produced by my land? The wife of this manufacturer will furnish the queen and princesses with fine point of Alen?on, she will be patronized; her son will become intendant of justice, police, and finance, and will augment29 my taxes in my miserable30 old age. Ah! gentlemen speculators, you calculate badly; you are unjust.
The great point is that an entire people be not despoiled31 by an army of alguazils, in order that a score of town or court leeches32 may feast upon its blood.
The Duke de Sully relates, in his “Political Economy,” that in 1585 there were just twenty lords interested in the leases of farms, to whom the highest bidders33 gave three million two hundred and forty-eight thousand crowns.
It was still worse under Charles IX., and Francis I., and Louis XIII. There was not less depredation34 in the minority of Louis XIV. France, notwithstanding so many wounds, is still in being. Yes; but if it had not received them it would have been in better health. It was thus with several other states.
§ III.
It is just that those who enjoy the advantages of a government should support the charges. The ecclesiastics35 and monks36, who possess great property, for this reason should contribute to the taxes in all countries, like other citizens. In the times which we call barbarous, great benefices and abbeys were taxed in France to the third of their revenue.
By a statute37 of the year 1188, Philip Augustus imposed a tenth of the revenues of all benefices. Philip le Bel caused the fifth, afterwards the fifteenth, and finally the twentieth part, to be paid, of all the possessions of the clergy38.
King John, by a statute of March 12, 1355, taxed bishops39, abbots, chapters, and all ecclesiastics generally, to the tenth of the revenue of their benefices and patrimonies40. The same prince confirmed this tax by two other statutes41, one of March 3, the other of Dec. 28, 1358.
In the letters-patent of Charles V., of June 22, 1372, it is decreed, that the churchmen shall pay taxes and other real and personal imposts. These letters-patent were renewed by Charles VI. in the year 1390.
How is it that these laws have been abolished, while so many monstrous42 customs and sanguinary decrees have been preserved? The clergy, indeed, pay a tax under the name of a free gift, and, as it is known, it is principally the poorest and most useful part of the church — the curates (rectors)— who pay this tax. But, why this difference and inequality of contributions between the citizens of the same state? Why do those who enjoy the greatest prerogatives43, and who are sometimes useless to the public, pay less than the laborer44, who is so necessary? The Republic of Venice supplies rules on this subject, which should serve as examples to all Europe.
§ IV.
Churchmen have not only pretended to be exempt45 from taxes, they have found the means in several provinces to tax the people, and make them pay as a legitimate46 right.
In several countries, monks having seized the tithes47 to the prejudice of the rectors, the peasants are obliged to tax themselves, to furnish their pastors49 with subsistence; and thus in several villages, and above all, in Franche-Comté, besides the tithes which the parishioners pay to the monks or to chapters, they further pay three or four measures of corn to their curates or rectors. This tax was called the right of harvest in some provinces, and boisselage in others.
It is no doubt right that curates should be well paid, but it would be much better to give them a part of the tithes which the monks have taken from them, than to overcharge the poor cultivator.
Since the king of France fixed50 the competent allowances for the curates, by his edict of the month of May, 1768, and charged the tithe48-collectors with paying them, the peasants should no longer be held to pay a second tithe, a tax to which they only voluntarily submitted at a time when the influence and violence of the monks had taken from their pastors all means of subsistence.
The king has abolished this second tithe in Poitou, by letters-patent, registered by the Parliament of Paris July 11, 1769. It would be well worthy51 of the justice and beneficence of his majesty52 to make a similar law for other provinces, which are in the same situation as those of Poitou, Franche-Comté, etc.
By M. Chr., Advocate of Besan?on.
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1
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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impost
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| n.进口税，关税 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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lackeys
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| n.听差( lackey的名词复数 )；男仆（通常穿制服）；卑躬屈膝的人；被待为奴仆的人 | |
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lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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malediction
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| n.诅咒 | |
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harass
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| vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰 | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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despoiled
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| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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bidders
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| n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 ) | |
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depredation
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| n.掠夺，蹂躏 | |
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ecclesiastics
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| n.神职者，教会，牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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statute
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| n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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patrimonies
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| n.祖传的财物，继承物，遗产( patrimony的名词复数 ) | |
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statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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42
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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prerogatives
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| n.权利( prerogative的名词复数 )；特权；大主教法庭；总督委任组成的法庭 | |
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44
laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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45
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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47
tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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pastors
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| n.（基督教的）牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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50
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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51
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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52
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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