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The estimated tax was at the rate of 7d. in the £, and the actual yield was £5,608,548 in 1843, and continued to £5,869,826 in 1853. In that year the tax was extended to incomes between £100 and £150, at 5d. in the £; and the whole tax was in the same year extended to Ireland. Its product was £7,133,039 in 1854. The exigencies of the Russian war then required an increased revenue, which was effected by doubling the tax. The progress of the tax was as follows:

TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF DUTY CHARGED UNDER THE INCOME TAX IN EACH YEAR, SINCE ITS IMPOSITION IN 1842, DISTINGUISHING THE RATE OF DUTY IN EACH YEAR.

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The following table appended to the report of the Parliamentary Committee gives the product of each penny of duty under each schedule.

AMOUNT PRODUCED FROM EACH 1D. of duty.
Schedule A. Schedule B. Schedule C. Schedule D. Schedule E.

1843..... £357,281 £95,588 £116,140 £240,264 £39,740

Total.

£849,014

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225,538 45,661

828,636

863,307

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245,346 47,156
252,631 48,166 873,588

1845... 355,176 92,562 109,699 1846... 369,592 94,838 106,375 1847.. 372,117 92,588 108,086 1848.... 379,041 91,954 108,705 250,623 49,195 879,518 1849.. 393,509 94,929 109,962 226,372 50,345 875,108 1850.... 389,679 93,280 109,428 224,409

48,353

865,149

* From April 5, 1853, incomes between £100 and £150 were made subject to tax ; from the same date the tax was also extended to Ireland.

Schedule A. Schedule B. Schedule C. Schedule D. Schedule E.

Total.

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1852... 1853.. 1854... 1855... 1856.. 1857.. 1858. 1859.

395,288

88,692

109,663

238,392

47,411

879,446

882,136

1,101.334

1860....

397,500 87,184 107,029 242,852 47,571
*474,653 122,418 114,238 330,986 59,039
481,413 121,452 109,114 332,677 63,709 1,108,365
485,554 118,989 107,410 329,277 72,544 1,113,774
491,458 118,705 118,103 334,987 75,102 1,138,355
530,292 130,344 122,980 353,786 79,714 1,217,140
532,559 129,122 122,278 353,984 78,397 1,216,340
563,371 129,906 123,755 371,197 78,535 1,239,764

These tables indicate the power of the tax, and also the progress of each kind of property in the schedules. Thus, under schedule A the rent of land increased £40,000 from 1843 to 1853, or 11 per cent, while the occupation of land decreased £7,000, or 8 per cent. There was a decrease also in the revenue from stocks, and profits on trade barely held their own. Hence the whole increase seems to have been from the rent of land. In 1854, the incomes between £100 and £150 were added at the rate of 5d. in the £, and also those of Ireland. The result was a rise of 23 per cent in the amount realized. The same rate of tax in 1858 produced £772,000 more revenue. The exigencies of the Russian war caused numerous changes in the rate, but always with success. Still, however, the rents from land were the most reliable tax, the amount of which shows that the rents have increased in face of the large imports of free food. The reductions in the duty on some articles of this description have been as follows:

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In spite of these reductions, and the consequent great increase in the import of these articles, the rents have, as stated above, also increased. It will be seen from the following table also, that the stamps and income tax yield together £19,000,000, or, in round numbers, $95,000,000 levied upon 30,000,000 of the most wealthy people in the world; of the stamps. one-fourth is derived from a legacy duty, on the descent, by death, of all the property in Great Britain. The income tax gives, it appears, $50,000,000 per annum, and is levied at the rate of 4 per cent on incomes from $500 to $750 per annum, and 3 per cent on all over $750 per an num. It would seem from the return that the low incomes are one-fourth of the large ones, or about one-fifth of the whole tax. The tax levied in 1859 was 2 per cent on all incomes, and the result was £5,758,905, equal to a gross income of £286,000,000, against £178,580,000 in 1814, showing an increase of £108,000,000 in forty-five years.

Since 1853, the imports, exports, and national revenue have been as follows:

Imports.

Exports. National revenue. Income tax. Other sources. 1854. £152,389,053 £97,184,726 £54,774,905 £7,133,039 £47,641,866 1855. 143,542,850 95,688,085 59,496,154 14,358,090 45,138,064 1856. 172,544,154 115,826,948 65,704,491 16,465,508 49,158,984 1857. 187,844,441 122,066.107 72,334,062 16,915,332

55,418,730 1858. 164,583,832 116,608,756 67,881,513 7,905,525 59,975,988 1859. 179,182,355 130,411,529 65,477,284 5,758,905 59,7:8,389 1860. 210,530,873 135,891,227

1861.

217,351,881 125,115,133

71,089.669 10,424,887

70,283,674 10,923,816

60,664,782 59,359,858

The income tax has, as we have before stated, been very effective in raising the revenue at periods of unexpected and unusual demands, like that of the Russian war or the panic of 1857; but the large general prosperity of the country has caused the indirect taxes to rise steadily in amount, notwithstanding the reductions in rates which they have undergone. The ministry of Sir ROBERT PEEL insisted strongly upon the great benefit that was to be realized from the removal of those inquisitorial taxes which were imposed upon many branches of home manufacture, and which greatly retarded the productive power of the country. The results have fully justified the views then held, since, by the removal of them, a degree of prosperity has been reached which enables all taxes to be collected with great facility. The removal of duties on various articles of general consumption has not however had the effect in all cases which was anticipated. Thus, the reduction in the duties on coffee did not have the effect of largely increasing the imports of that article, but the consumption of sugar and tea was immensely promoted by the reduction of the tax upon them. This is because a large and active demand for the latter exists, while the English public are comparatively indifferent to coffee. That article which the people will have will always bear the greatest tax. Tobacco pays 75 cents per pound, with an increasing consumption, while cocoa is scarcely consumed at all at any cost. In Spain and Portugal, on the other hand, the heaviest taxed article is cocoa, and it is the article of most general consumption.

The want of cotton as a raw material in England is being seriously felt, since it is a vehicle through which the sale of a large amount of English labor is effected, and without which their labor not only remains unproductive, but becomes a burden upon the other interests, and at the same time rapidly deteriorates, since unemployed persons lose their industrial habits and the State thereby suffers permanently.

While the revenue of the United Kingdom has been thus improved by reason of the general prosperity of the nation, and the care and skill with which its fiscal resources have been administered, it remains a fact that during the forty-eight years which have elapsed since the wars which created the debt were closed, there has been no progress made towards diminishing the national debt. The efforts of each succeeding ministry have been directed to the payment of the interest and to meet the annual cost of government, while unlooked-for events, like the China war, the famine in Ireland, and the emancipation in the West Indies add continually to the principal of the funded debt, which stood at £784,420,007 in 1861, or $3,795,000,000. The revenues at present are in so prosperous a condition that Mr. GLADSTONE has proposed further remissions of taxes. The surplus is estimated at £3,874,000; this he proposes to apply-£191,000 to the remission of certain charges on bills of lading; £1,650,000 to a

reduction of tea duty from 1s. 5d. per pound to 1s. per pound, and £2,750,000 to a reduction of income duty, by exempting £60 per annum from all incomes under £200, and to take 2s. from the £ from the tax, making it uniform upon all incomes.

The United States are now unhappily compelled by circumstances to follow the English example of high taxes. The country is no doubt able to bear the load, but it ought to have the benefit of English experience, in laying that load upon the people, so that it may be most easily borne. If England is able to draw her revenue and not impair the productive powers of the country, the United States Government ought to be guided by the same principle. It is evident that the same rules will not in all cases apply here as in England, but the same general principle should be observed. Thus, we have seen in the above table, that the rent of land yields the largest returns in England. In the United States the same state of things does not exist. The land is largely owned by the occupiers. The most prolific source of the English income tax would, therefore, here fail. Exclusive of the income tax, one-third of the whole English revenue is derived from strong drink, viz.: £19,563,160 out of £59,429,649, and one-fourth the remainder is from sugar and tobacco, which are United States products. In the whole list there are no taxes upon objects of English industry, or the materials of their production. Yet her tax system began with taxes upon all those articles, like the United States tax law now in operation, and which is reported as yielding "alarmingly below the estimates." The stamp taxes will be found to yield better, because they are so easily collected, and require no vexatious local visitations. A large portion of the English stamp revenues are from legacies. It will require sometime to develop those taxes here, but they are the most unexceptionable taxes that can be levied. Then, too, there is no reason why strong drink should not be taxed as high here as in England. The quantity consumed is as follows:

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A tax of 50 cents per gallon would give a sum equal to the amount derived from the same articles in England. The duty on the imported liquors is $1 to $2 per gallon, and there is no reason why the whole should not pay at the same rate. Tobacco ought also to pay its $30,000,000 as in England, and could be made to do so without detriment to national interests. In a word, there can be no difficulty in raising money enough. by taxation for the purposes of government, if those taxes are only properly laid, and the right principles observed in regulating them.

COMMERCIAL LAW. No. 3.

THE CONSIDERATION FOR AN AGREEMENT.

OF THE NEED OF A CONSIDERATION,

Ir is an ancient and well-established rule of the common law of England and of this country, that no promise can be enforced at law, unless it rests upon a consideration. If it do not, it is called a nudum pactum, by which words are meant a naked bargain, or, as it is sometimes called, in English words made out of the Latin, a nude pact; and the promisor, even if he admits his promise, is under no legal obligation to perform it.

There are two exceptions to this rule. One is when the promise is made by a sealed instrument, or deed; (every written instrument which is sealed is a deed.) Here the law is said to imply a consideration; the meaning of which is that it does not require that any consideration should be proved. The seal itself is said to be a consideration, or to import a consideration.

The second exception relates to negotiable paper; and is an instance in which the law-merchant has materially qualified the common law. We shall speak more fully of this exception when we treat of negotiable paper. The word "consideration," as it is used in this rule, has a peculiar and technical meaning. It denotes some substantial cause for the promise. This cause must be one of two things; either a benefit to the promisor, or else an injury or loss to the promisee sustained by him at the instance and request of the promisor. Thus, if A promises B to pay him a thousand dollars in three months, and even promises this in writing, the promise is worthless in law, if A makes it as a merely voluntary promise, without consideration. But if B, or anybody for him, gives to A to-day a thousand dollars in goods or money, and this was the ground and cause of the promise, then it is enforceable. And if A got nothing for his promise, but B, at the request of A, gave the same goods or money to C, this would be an equally good consideration, and the promise would be equally valid in law. This rule sometimes operates harshly and unjustly, and permits promisors to break their word under circumstances calling strongly for its fulfilment. Courts have been led, perhaps, by this, to moderate the rule, and to say that the consideration is sufficient if it be a substantial one, although it be not an adequate one. This is the unquestionable rule now, and it is sometimes carried very far. In one case an American court refused to inquire into the adequacy of the consideration-or whether it was equal to the promise made upon it-and said, if there was the smallest spark of consideration it was enough, if the contract was fairly made with a full understanding of all the material facts. Still, there must be some.

WHAT ARE SUFFICIENT CONSIDERATIONS.

The law detests litigation; and therefore considers anything a sufficient consideration which arrests and suspends or terminates litigation. Tbus

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