The Relation of Taxation To Liberty on Superphysics

The Public Revenues

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

THE public revenues are a portion that each subject gives of his property, in order to secure or enjoy the remainder.

To fix these revenues properly, the necessities of the state and those of the subject should be considered.

Taxes in Countries where some people are Villains or Bondmen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

THE state of villainage is sometimes established after a conquest. In that case the bondman or villain that tills the land should have a kind of partnership with his master. Nothing but a communication of loss or profit can reconcile those who are doomed to labour to such as are blessed with a state of affluence.

How the Deception is preserved

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

IN order to make the purchaser confound the price of the commodity with the tax, there must be some proportion between the tax and the value of the commodity. This is why there shouldn’t be an excessive duty on cheap merchandise.

Relation between the Weight of Taxes and Liberty

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

IT is a general rule that taxes:

can be higher the more liberty a person has, and
should be lower the more enslaved a person is.

This has always been and always will be the case. It is a rule derived from nature that never varies.

The Abuse of Liberty

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The great advantages of liberty causes that liberty itself to be abused.

A moderate government produces admirable effects and so this moderation is laid aside
A moderate government produces great taxes, and so they want raise even more
They received such gifts from liberty, but they go to slavery who never gives such
- Liberty produces high tax revenues
- The effect of high tax revenues is slavery
- Slavery reduces tax revenues

The eastern monarchs exempt every year some of their provinces from paying tribute as a favour. But in Europe, the edicts of princes are immediately disagreeable because they always mention their own wants, but none of ours.

The Muslim Conquest and Tax Exemption

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This excess of taxes helped the Muslims carry on their conquests.

The people were subjected to a simple tribute, paid and collected with ease.
They were far happier in obeying a barbarous nation than a corrupt government that enslaved them.

Chapter 17: Troop Increase

The Muslim conquest induced our princes to keep up an exorbitant number of troops. As soon as one prince augments his forces, the others do the same. This leads to the public ruin. Each monarch keeps as many armies as if his people were in danger of being exterminated. They call this this general effort of all against all as “peace”.

Is Tax Farming Or Commission Better?

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

THE managing of the revenues by commission is like the conduct of a good father of a family, who collects his own rents himself with economy and order. It:

allows the prince to press or retard the levy of the taxes, either according to his own wants or to those of his people
saves the state the immense profits of tax collectors [tax farmers], who impoverish it a thousand ways
lets the prince prevent the people from being mortified with the sight of sudden fortunes
lets the public money pass through few hands, go directly to the treasury, and consequently makes a quicker return to the people.
lets the prince avoid an infinite number of bad laws, extorted from him by the avarice of the collectors who pretend to offer a present advantage for regulations pernicious to posterity.

The moneyed man is always the most powerful. The tax collector renders himself arbitrary even over the prince himself. He is not the legislator, but he obliges the legislator to give laws.