3236 ([return])
[ Ibid. Returns of the mutation tax (registration and timbre). Registration in 1820, 127 millions; in 1860, 306 millions; in 1886, 518 millions.—Timbre, in 1820, 26 millions; in 1860, 56 millions; in 1886, 156 millions. Sum-total in 1886, 674 millions.—The rate of corresponding taxes under the ancient régime (contrôle, insinuation centième denier, formule) was very much lower; the principal one, or tax of centieme denier, took only 1 per 100, and on the mutations of real-estate. This mutation tax is the only one rendered worse; it was immediately aggravated by the Constituent Assembly, and it is rendered all the more exorbitant on successions in which liabilities are not deducted from assets. (That is to say, the inheritor of an indebted estate in France must pay a mutation tax on its full value. He has the privilege, however, of renouncing the estate if he does not choose to accept it along with its indebtedness.)—The taxpayer's resignation to this tax is explained by the exchequer collecting it at a unique moment, when proprietorship just comes into being or is just at the point of birth. In effect, if property changes hands under inheritance or through free donation it is probable that the new owner, suddenly enriched, will be only too glad to enter into possession of it, and not object to an impost which, although taking about a tenth, still leaves him only a little less wealthy. When property is transferred by contract or sale, neither of the contracting parties, probably, sees clearly which pays the fiscal tax; the seller may think that it is the buyer, and the buyer that it is the seller. Owing to this illusion both are less sensible of the shearing, each offering his own back in the belief that it is the back of the other.]
3237 ([return])
[ See "The Ancient Régime," pp.358-362. (Ed. Laff. I. 266-268.)]
3238 ([return])
[ See "The Revolution," vol. I., pp. 16, 38. (ED. Laff. I. pp. 326, 342.)]
3239 ([return])
[ Decree of Oct. 31—Nov. 5, 1789, abolishing the boundary taxes between the provinces and suppressing all the collection offices in the kingdom.—Decree of 21-30 March 1790, abolishing the salt-tax. Decree of 1-17 March 1791, abolishing all taxes on liquors, and decree of 19-25 Feb. 1791, abolishing all octroi taxes.—Decree of 20-27 March 1791, in relation to freedom of growing, manufacturing and selling tobacco; customs-duties on the importation of leaf-tobacco alone are maintained, and give but an insignificant revenue, from 1,500,000 to 1,800,000 francs in the year V.]
3240 ([return])
[ Gaudin, Duc de Gaëte, "Mémoires," I., 215-217.—The advantages of indirect taxation are well explained by Gaudin. "The taxpayer pays only when he is willing and has the means. On the other hand, when the duties imposed by the exchequer are confounded with the price of the article, the taxpayer, in paying his due, thinks only of satisfying a want or of procuring an enjoyment."—Decrees of March 16 and 27, and May 4, 1806 (on salt), of February 25, 1804, April 24, 1806, Nov. 25, 1808 (on liquors), May 19, 1802, March 6, 1804, April 24, 1806, Dec.. 29, 1810 (on tobacco).]