If  the  poor  rate  were  levied  in  proportion  to
profits,  upon  farmers,  manufacturers,  and  merchants,
it  would  be  a  tax  upon  profits.  If  it  were  levied  in
proportion  to  the  rent  of  land,  it  would  he  a  tax  upon
the  rent  of  land.  If  it  were  levied  upon  the  rent  of
houses,  it  would  fall  upon  the  inmates,  and  be  a
tax  upon  income.  From  the  mode  in  which  it  is
levied,  it  is  drawn  in  part  from  all  these  sources.  If
it  falls-  disproportionally  upon  the  profits  of  any  one
class  of  capitalists,  that  class  receives  compensation.  If
the  farmers,  as  is  usually  supposed,  pay  a  higher  rate
for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor  than  other  producers,
this,  as  far  as  the  excess  extends,  is  the  same  thing
as  a  separate  and  additional  tax  upon  them.  But  if
a  separate   tax  is   laid  upon  the   farmers,  we  have

6


2^18  CHAP.    IV — CONSUMPTIOK,

already  seen  that  it  operates  immediately  to  raise,  tlic
price  of  corn  sufficiently  high  to  afford  them  com-
pensation for  the  tax»

A  tax  upon  the  instruments  of  production  is  the
same  thing  as  a  tax  upon  produce,  A  tax,  for
example,  upon  agricultural  horses,  increases  the  ex-
pense of  production  to  the  farmer,  just  as  a  tax  upon
the  raw  material  would  increase  the  cost  of  production
to  the  manufacturer.  Both  taxes  must  operate  to
raise  the  price  of  the  produce ;  and  hy  consequence
fall  upon  the   consumer.
