IT was fully expected that the various livery companies of the City would have strongly opposed the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for placing a tax upon their property, or rather, for including it in his general scheme of Taxation, and meetings were called and resolutions proposed for such purpose, it being considered as the introduction of a novel principle which might be carried on some future occasion to an extent that would savour very much of confiscation. But, strange to say, all such ideas of opposition, if ever seriously entertained, have been allowed quietly to drop, and the wiser counsel has prevailed of submitting, without a struggle, to the inevitable. But what, our readers will naturally ask, was the convincing argument that induced these powerful and wealthy bodies to withdraw their threatened opposition, and submit so tamely and so contentedly to this novel form of taxation? It is said, then, that a member of Parliament, or a barrister, learned in the law, or a solicitor in sharp practice, much interested in the prosperity of these hospitable and philanthropic; associations, has made the somewhat startling discovery, that the passing by the Legislature of a law for raising a tax upon the property of the guilds at once settles the point of their legal ownership thereof, on the principle that no tax can legally be levied upon an individual for property of which ho has not legal possession. If this be so, we can quite understand the philosophical calmness with which the proposed taxation has been received, and which has probably considerably astonished the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Apart from this consideration -- which, after all, may not have much in it -- it is wise of the livery companies not to oppose this new application of an old tax. All exceptions to "taxation levied upon accumulated property are not only unjust but unwise. They increase the burden of the tax on those who have to pay, and create among them a sense of injustice. The feeling has grown, is growing, and will probably continue to grow with ever-increasing rapidity, that property in this wealthy country does not bear anything like its fair share of either Imperial or local taxation. The whole story of the redemption of the land tax is the history of a successful endeavour by the owners of landed property -- who have ever formed the majority of the two Houses of Parliament -- to evade the most natural, the most productive, and the most just tax that was ever imposed by the legislature. There are eminent statisticians who have amused their leisure hours by calculating the amount that has been lost to the revenue of the country by the redemption of the land tax, and the amount is so enormous as to be scarcely credible, and, of course, the whole of this enormous loss has had to be supplied by these who have to earn their own living rather then by these who are fortunate enough to enjoy the accumulations of others. The same injustice attends the levying of the income tax, when hard-earned income pays the same tax per cent, as realised property. It seems to us highly probable, judging from what we hear of the various metropolitan meetings that we taking place in connection with the selection of candidates for the coming Parliamentary election, that both these grossly unjust arrangements will be well considered, and possibly, if not altogether remedied, certainly very greatly modified by the new Parliament, in which, we are inclined to think, that the toilers and the spinners will be much more largely represented then in any Parliament of modern times.
City Press, June 3, 1885.
Foreign Fish Foe, British Waters
The Cashmere Earthquake
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
