| I. The tithe of the lands | 60 000 000 |
| II. The tithe of all revenue and industry | 15 422 500 |
| III. The salt-tax at eighteen livres the minot[[51]] | 23 400 000 |
| IV. The fixed revenue | 18 000 000 |
| Total of the four articles, when at the lowest taxation | 116 822 500 |
| When the tithe is understood to mean the tenth part of the fruits, the two first articles are just double of what they are stated at above, viz. | 150 845 000 |
| The salt-tax at thirty livres the minot | 39 000 000 |
| The fixt revenue never changes, and stands always at | 18 000 000 |
| Total of the four articles, when at the highest taxation | 207 845 000 |
[51]. The minot is a measure of capacity equal to three Paris bushels, or the fourth part of a septier; which is about one half of an English quarter. This makes the minot to be about an English bushel. The Marechal proposed that this quantity, when at the lowest price, should be sold for 18 livres, or 1l. 6s. 1½d. sterling; and when at the highest, at 30 livres, 2l. 3s. 6½d. from which we may judge of the exorbitancy of the gabelle, even after all the diminution he thought proper to make upon it. The French money mentioned in the Marechal’s Dixieme royale, is here converted into 52¼d. sterling, for the French crown of three livres: because the silver coin in France, at the time he wrote, was 30 livres 10 sols the marc (Dutot, chap. 1. art. 6.); and at present it is at 49 livres 16 sols.
In imposing this tax upon the fruits, he allowed no exemptions, not even in favours of the princes of the blood: for this he gave an excellent reason. Tithes, said he, were the ancient patrimony of kings. The Roman emperors and kings of France enjoyed them. From those duties no noble was exempted. This appears from the ecclesiastical tithe, which, he alledged, to be nothing but the royal patrimony, alienated in favour of the church; consequently, there is nothing derogatory in paying the tithe, although nothing be more so than paying the taille. So great is the difference between terms, when the ideas of a nation are connected with them!
CHAP. XII.
Miscellaneous Questions relating to Taxes.
The subjects of credit, debts, and taxes, have been so extensively treated of in the two last books, that I hope no question I now can propose will serve for any purpose, but to suggest the solution of it, so far as it comes under the principles we have been deducing.
Quest. 1. What is the most proper method for imposing a land tax?
I answer, that according to equity and justice, all impositions whatsoever ought to fall equally and proportionally on every one, according to his superfluity; but in land-taxes this equality is not so essential as in most others. The great hurt arising from inequality in taxation proceeds from the inequality occasioned thereby in the competition between the classes of the industrious. When the same tax affects people of the same class differently, those who bear the heaviest load gain less, though their industry be equal. But in land-taxes the case is different: the tax there only diminishes an income already made, and in fact diminishes the value of the property; so that were land-taxes made perpetual deductions, the whole loss of the tax would fall at once upon the actual possessors at the time it is imposed. Every subsequent purchaser, by deducting the land-tax out of the rent, would calculate the value of the remainder only; and the consequence of the tax would be, virtually, to transfer a part of the land-property to the state.
The consequences of such a change upon property may produce a variety of new combinations. The state may then sell this portion of their property; they may with the price received pay off part of their debts; they may acquire certain districts of the country, where, being both sovereign and proprietor, they may abolish taxes, which would then in a great measure affect themselves only, and establish manufactures for foreign exportation.
Although an absolute equality in this tax is not so very requisite, still the inequality ought to be ascertained, and every income intended to be affected by the tax should be specified in one way or other. For this purpose, the best method seems to be, to make the regulation of any one year a rule for the subsequent years, until it be judged proper to make a new general valuation of every part. This is a consequence of what has been said: a fluctuating annual valuation, which is the case in France, produces numberless inconveniences; and upon the whole, they are far greater than those which it is intended to avoid.