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Show 480 ON THE IlHl\IEDIATE CAUSES [CH. VII. n1and; they frequently occasion a division of property n1ore favourable to the progress of wealth than \vould otherwise have taken place; they en. sure that consutnption which is necessary to give the proper stimulus to production; and the desire to pay a tax, and yet enjoy the satne means of gra· tification, must often operate to excite the exertions of industry quite as effectually as the desire to pay a lavvyer or physician. Yet to counterbalance these advantages, which so far are unquestionable, it , must be acknowledged that injudicious taxation might stop the increase of wealth at ahnost any period of its progress, early or late;>~.~ and that the n1ost judicious taxation 1night ultitnately be so heavy as to clog all the channels of foreign and dotnestic trade, and ahnost prevent the possibility of accunnilation. The effect therefore uu national vvealth of those classes of unproductive labourers \vhich arc supported by taxation, must be very various in different counti~ies, and must depend entirely upon the po"rers of production, and upon the n1anner in * The effect of obliging a cultivator of a certain portion of rich land to maintain two men and two horses for the state, might in some cases only induce him to cultivate more, and create more wealth than he otherwise would have done, while it might leave .- him personally as rich as before ' and the nation richer; but if the same obligation were to be imposed on the cultivator of an equal quantity of poor land, the property might be rendered at once not worth working, and the desertion of it would be the natural consequence. An indiscriminate and heavy tax on gross produce might immediately scatter desolation over a country, capable, under a better system, of producing considerable wealth. SEC. IX.] OF THE PROGRESS OF "\VEALTII. 481 , ( which the taxes are raised in each country. As great po,;vers of production are neither likely to be called into action, or, "\iVhen once in action, kept in activity 'vithout great consumption, I feel very little doubt that instances have practically occurred of national wealth being greatly stimulated by the consumption of those who have been supported by taxes. Yet taxation is a stin1tllus so liable in every way to abuse, and it is so absolutely necessary for the general interests of society to consider ' private property as sacred, that one should be cxtren1ely cautious of trusting to any governn1ent the means of tnaking a different distribution of wealth, with a vie\v to the general good. But when, either fron1 necessity or error, a different distribution has taken place, and the evil, as far as it regards private property, has actually been s;on1- mitted, it would surely be n1ost unwise to atten1pt, at the expense of a great temporary sacrifice, a return to the former distribution, without very fully considering \vhether, if it were effected, it would be really advantageous; that is, whether, in the actual circumstances of the country, with r - ference to its powers of production, more \Vould not be lost by the want of consumption thati gained by the diminution of taxation. If there could be no sort of difficulty in finding employment for capital, provided the price of labour were sufficient] y low, the way to national wealth, thougP, it might not ah:vays be easy, would · be quite straight, and our only object need be to save from revenue, and repress unproductive con- I I |
