THE TAXATION OF VIRTUE.
"I shall wait," said Peter, "till they send me the final notice."
"Being his wife," said Hilda to me, "I am in a position to know that he will not. In another week he will pay, saying that the thought of income-tax has affected his nerves and that he can bear it no longer. He wobbles like this for six weeks twice a year, and meanwhile his family starves."
"Under our system of taxation," Peter retorted, "the innocent must suffer."
"It falls alike on the just and the unjust," I interposed. "How else would you have it?"
"Naturally I would have it fall on the unjust alone," he replied.
"Why not on the just alone?" I asked, suddenly aware of the birth of an idea.
"Of course you want exemption."
"You miss my point. You grant that taxation is necessary?"
"For the sake of argument," said Peter, "I grant that, with reservations."