The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (top reads txt) 📕

by industry, and therefore it is right to place the prohibition beyond the probable acquisition to which industry can extend; but there ought to be a limit to property or the accumulation of it by bequest. It should pass in some other line. The richest in every nation have poor relations, and those often very near in consanguinity.

The following table of progressive taxation is constructed on the above principles, and as a substitute for the commutation tax. It will reach the point of prohibition by a regular operation, and thereby supersede the aristocratical law of primogeniture.

Table I

A tax on all estates of the clear yearly value of £50, after deducting the land tax, and up

To £500: 0s. 3d. per pound From £500 to £1,000: 0s. 6d. per pound On the second thousand: 0s. 9d. per pound On the third thousand: 1s. 0d. per pound On the fourth thousand: 1s. 6d. per pound On the fifth thousand: 2s. 0d. per pound On the sixth thousand: 3s. 0d. per pound On the seventh thousand: 4s. 0d. per pound On the eighth thousand: 5s. 0d. per pound On the ninth thousand: 6s. 0d. per pound On the tenth thousand: 7s. 0d. per pound On the eleventh thousand: 8s. 0d. per pound On the twelfth thousand: 9s. 0d. per pound On the thirteenth thousand: 10s. 0d. per pound On the fourteenth thousand: 11s. 0d. per pound On the fifteenth thousand: 12s. 0d. per pound On the sixteenth thousand: 13s. 0d. per pound On the seventeenth thousand: 14s. 0d. per pound On the eighteenth thousand: 15s. 0d. per pound On the nineteenth thousand: 16s. 0d. per pound On the twentieth thousand: 17s. 0d. per pound On the twenty-first thousand: 18s. 0d. per pound On the twenty-second thousand: 19s. 0d. per pound On the twenty-third thousand: 20s. 0d. per pound

The foregoing table shows the progression per pound on every progressive thousand. The following table shows the amount of the tax on every thousand separately, and in the last column the total amount of all the separate sums collected.

Table II

An estate of:

£50 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: £0 12 6 100 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: 1 5 0 200 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: 2 10 0 300 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: 3 15 0 400 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: 5 0 0 500 per annum at 3d. per pound pays: 7 5 0

After £500, the tax of 6d. per pound takes place on the second £500; consequently an estate of £1,000 per annum pays £21, 15s., and so on.

s. d. £ s. £ s. For the 1st £500 at: 0 3⁠— 7 5 21 15 2nd £500: 0 6⁠— 14 10 21 15 2nd thousand: 0 9⁠— 37 11 59 5 3rd thousand: 1 0⁠— 50 0 109 5 4th thousand: 1 6⁠— 75 0 184 5 5th thousand: 2 0⁠— 100 0 284 5 6th thousand: 3 0⁠— 150 0 434 5 7th thousand: 4 0⁠— 200 0 634 5 8th thousand: 5 0⁠— 250 0 880 5 9th thousand: 6 0⁠— 300 0 1,100 5 10th thousand: 7 0⁠— 350 0 1,530 5 11th thousand: 8 0⁠— 400 0 1,930 5 12th thousand: 9 0⁠— 450 0 2,380 5 13th thousand: 10 0⁠— 500 0 2,880 5 14th thousand: 11 0⁠— 550 0 3,430 5 15th thousand: 12 0⁠— 600 0 4,030 5 16th thousand: 13 0⁠— 650 0 4,680 5 17th thousand: 14 0⁠— 700 0 5,380 5 18th thousand: 15 0⁠— 750 0 6,130 5 19th thousand: 16 0⁠— 800 0 6,930 5 20th thousand: 17 0⁠— 850 0 7,780 5 21st thousand: 18 0⁠— 900 0 8,680 5 22nd thousand: 19 0⁠— 950 0 9,630 5 23rd thousand: 20 0⁠— 1,000 0 1,0630 5

At the twenty-third thousand the tax becomes 20s. in the pound, and consequently every thousand beyond that sum can produce no profit but by dividing the estate. Yet formidable as this tax appears, it will not, I believe, produce so much as the commutation tax; should it produce more, it ought to be lowered to that amount upon estates under two or three thousand a year.

On small and middling estates it is lighter (as it is intended to be) than the commutation tax. It is not till after seven or eight thousand a year that it begins to be heavy. The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure. The aristocracy has screened itself too much, and this serves to restore a part of the lost equilibrium.

As an instance of its screening itself, it is only necessary to look back to the first establishment of the excise laws, at what is called the Restoration, or the coming of Charles the Second. The aristocratical interest then in power, commuted the feudal services itself was under, by laying a tax on beer brewed for sale; that is, they compounded with Charles for an exemption from those services for themselves and their heirs, by a tax to be paid by other people. The aristocracy do not purchase beer brewed for sale, but brew their own beer free of the duty, and if any commutation at that time were necessary, it ought to have been at the expense of those for whom the exemptions from those services were intended;57 instead of which, it was thrown on an entirely different class of men.

But the chief object of this progressive tax (besides the justice of rendering taxes more equal than they are) is, as already stated, to extirpate the overgrown influence arising from the unnatural law of primogeniture, and which is one of the principal sources of corruption at elections.

It would be attended with no good consequences to enquire how such vast estates as thirty, forty, or fifty thousand a year could commence, and that at a time when commerce and manufactures were not in a state to admit of such acquisitions. Let it be sufficient to remedy the evil by putting them in a condition of descending again to the community by the quiet means of apportioning them among all the heirs and heiresses of those families. This will be the more necessary, because hitherto the aristocracy have quartered their younger children and connections upon the public in useless posts, places and offices, which when abolished will leave them destitute, unless the law of primogeniture be also abolished or superseded.

A progressive tax will, in a great measure, effect this object, and that as a matter of interest to the parties most immediately concerned, as will be seen by the following table; which shows the net produce upon every estate, after subtracting the tax. By this it will appear that after an estate exceeds thirteen or fourteen thousand a year, the remainder produces but little profit to the holder, and consequently, will pass either to the younger children, or to other kindred.

Table III

Showing the net produce of every estate from one thousand to twenty-three thousand pounds a year

No of thousand per annum Total tax subtracted Net produce £1,000 £21 £979 2,000 59 1,941 3,000 109 2,891 4,000 184 3,816 5,000 284 4,716 6,000 434 5,566 7,000 634 6,366 8,000 880 7,120 9,000 1,100 7,900 10,000 1,530 8,470 11,000 1,930 9,070 12,000 2,380 9,620 13,000 2,880 10,120 14,000 3,430 10,570 15,000 4,030 10,970 16,000 4,680 11,320 17,000 5,380 11,620 18,000 6,130 11,870 19,000 6,930 12,170 20,000 7,780 12,220 21,000 8,680 12,320 22,000 9,630 12,370 23,000 10,630 12,370

N.B. The odd shillings are dropped in this table.

According to this table, an estate cannot produce more than £12,370 clear of the land tax and the progressive tax, and therefore the dividing such estates will follow as a matter of family interest. An estate of £23,000 a year, divided into five estates of four thousand each and one of three, will be charged only £1,129 which is but five percent, but if held by one possessor, will be charged £10,630.

Although an enquiry into the origin of those estates be unnecessary, the continuation of them in their present state is another subject. It is