Wealth

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13.Wealth, the state and public finance

13a.Taxation: its principles and incidence

See also: Government 8b · Labor 6e · Taxation 5c · Justice 8b

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

• p. 34–35Ch'iu condemned for enriching an already wealthy lord as tax-gatherer.read · scan
• p. 38Yu Jo argues the ruler's plenty depends on the people's plenty; light taxes.read · scan

Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33

• p. 52Land allotment and rent form the king's revenue.read · scan

Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12

• p. 366Heavy war taxes on incomes and freedmen's property cause outcries and disturbances in Italy.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

• p. 51–52Merchants are the kingdom's veins; taxes on them reduce total trade and seldom benefit revenue.read · scan
• p. 75–76Heavy taxation makes a people unfit for empire, though taxes by consent hurt courage less.read · scan

Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43

• p. 68–69Rules on taxation of estates, property conveyance and fishing and fowling rights.read · scan

First Charter of VirginiaVol. 43

• p. 54Duties of two and a half or five percent are levied on foreign traffic, used for the plantations for twenty-one years.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

• p. 250The ruler is a raiser of taxes and takes the fattest places.read · scan

The Fundamental Orders of ConnecticutVol. 43

• p. 64–65Levies on the towns apportioned by a committee with equal members from each town.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

• p. 113–114Fixes a yearly revenue from customs and requires parliamentary consent to raise money.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

• p. 91Taxes are levied by estate and revenue, not rank; peasants prosper and gentry enrich themselves by tilling their land.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

• p. 98–99Tax should be proportioned to property owned.read · scan
• p. 127Proprietors' vast estates are to be excused from taxes for the province's defense.read · scan
• p. 137–138Taxation of proprietary estates and the sums raised for defense are at issue.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 465–466Public expenses should be paid by contributions proportioned to ability, or by those who benefit.read · scan
• p. 476–477Public stock and land being insufficient, expense must be met by taxes drawn from rent, profit and wages.read · scan
• p. 477Taxes fall on rent, profit or wages and must be proportioned to revenue.read · scan
• p. 477–478Taxes should be convenient to pay and cost the people little beyond the treasury's take, avoiding costly officers and discouraged industry.read · scan
• p. 479Land tax fixed by invariable canon becomes unequal over time yet is certain, convenient, cheap, and does not discourage improvement.read · scan
• p. 480Smith shows how a fixed land-tax valuation benefits landlord or sovereign depending on rising rents and changes in the value of silver and the coinage standard.read · scan
• p. 481–482Compares land-tax systems, the French economists' theory and the Venetian tenth of rent, judging equality and expense of levying.read · scan
• p. 482–483Proposes a register of leases and heavier tax on renewal fines to prevent fraud and encourage good cultivation of land.read · scan
• p. 483Weighs expense and discouragement to land improvement of a variable land-tax; the landlord should be indemnified for improvements.read · scan
• p. 484–485A tax varying with rent suits itself to changes in agriculture, silver and coinage; survey-based land-taxes in Prussia are described.read · scan
• p. 485–486A land-tax by fixed survey becomes unequal over time; the French taille of Montauban shows the clumsy remedies.read · scan
• p. 486Taxes on produce fall finally on the landlord's rent; tithe is unequal, taking a fifth of rent on rich land and half on poor.read · scan
• p. 487–488Tithe discourages improvement and costly crops; land-taxes on produce in China, Bengal and Egypt; house rent divided into building and ground rent.read · scan
• p. 488Building rent is regulated by the ordinary interest of money and equalised with other trades by capital flows; ground-rent is the surplus paid for situation.read · scan
• p. 489Analyses how a tax on house-rent cannot lastingly affect building rent, so it divides between inhabitant and ground-owner, unequally.read · scan
• p. 490–491House-rent tax falls heaviest on the rich, whose luxuries drive expense, and is drawn from wages, profits or rent; rent of houses is unproductive.read · scan
• p. 491–492Smith argues houses and ground-rents as subjects of taxation, who finally bears the tax, and rent as a form of revenueread · scan
• p. 492–493Ground-rents and land rent are revenue enjoyed without care, so taxing them discourages no industry and leaves real wealth unchangedread · scan
• p. 493–494Describes British and Dutch taxes on house rent and land, their inequalities and assessmentread · scan
• p. 494–495House taxes measured against rents and the ability of rich and poor to payread · scan
• p. 495–496House taxes lower rents, yet rising demand shows prosperity; profit of stock taxed falls on landlord, consumer or interestread · scan
• p. 496–497A tax on interest of money would not raise the rate of interest, as profit is regulated by stock relative to employmentread · scan
• p. 497–498Stock is secret, fluctuating and removable, unlike land; taxing it drives capital away and dries up revenue, industry and wagesread · scan
• p. 498–499English land-tax was meant to tax stock like land but assesses stock far below its value; prosperity lessens inequalitiesread · scan
• p. 499Taxes on stock assessed by self-declaration in Hamburg, Zurich and Basilread · scan
• p. 500Declaring fortune would ruin credit of merchants in hazardous trade; Holland's heavy two per cent tax encroached on capitalread · scan
• p. 501Taxes on stock aim at interest not capital; taxes on particular trades fall finally on consumers, not dealersread · scan
• p. 501Taxes on dealers are paid by consumers; flat licence taxes favour great dealers, oppress small ones and foster monopolyread · scan
• p. 502–503Smith analyzes how a tax on farm profits falls on the landlord's rent, unlike a tax on trade profits, which falls on consumers.read · scan
• p. 503–504Taxes on servants fall on expense and on the middling rank, not on the poor.read · scan
• p. 504–505Taxes on stock profits and revenue affect the interest of money; taxes on transferred property reduce its capital value.read · scan
• p. 505Property transfers by inheritance and sale are easily taxed directly, while loans are secret and taxed indirectly by stamp and registration duties.read · scan
• p. 506Feudal casualties were taxes on land transfers and a chief branch of royal revenue.read · scan
• p. 506–507Taxes on land transfer form revenue of the sovereign, levied by stamp or registration duties.read · scan
• p. 507–508Compares stamp and registration duties in Britain, Holland and France, and whether they are proportioned to the value of property.read · scan
• p. 508Taxes on property transfer fall on the necessitous seller or borrower, reducing the capital value; builders and buyers shift burdens by market demand.read · scan
• p. 509–510Property-transfer taxes reduce capital that maintains productive labour, enriching a sovereign who supports only unproductive labourers.read · scan
• p. 510Registration of mortgages secures credit and benefits the public, but secret registers and multiplied offices for revenue are abuses; some stamp duties are consumption taxes.read · scan
• p. 511Worked example shows a one-fifth tax on wages forces wages up by one-fourth to preserve subsistence.read · scan
• p. 512Final payment falls on consumers for manufactures and on landlords for farm labour, more heavily than direct taxes on rent and commodities.read · scan
• p. 512–513Such taxes diminish annual produce and are finally paid by landlords and consumers.read · scan
• p. 513–514Introduces capitation and consumption taxes falling indifferently on all revenue.read · scan
• p. 514–515Smith analyzes capitation and poll-taxes assessed by fortune or rank, finding them arbitrary or unequal, and preferring inequality to uncertainty in taxation.read · scan
• p. 515–516Compares English and French capitation taxes, their yield and the assessment of different ranks.read · scan
• p. 516–517Capitation taxes fall on wages; taxes on consumable commodities arise as indirect taxes on expense, dividing necessaries from luxuries.read · scan
• p. 518A tax on necessaries raises their price and so wages, ultimately falling on consumers or landlords' rents.read · scan
• p. 518–519Taxes on luxuries like tobacco, tea, sugar and beer do not raise wages; the tax falls on consumers.read · scan
• p. 520Taxes on necessaries raise wages and manufactured prices, falling on landlords and rich consumers with overcharge; luxury taxes fall on consumers only.read · scan
• p. 521Describes British taxes on salt, leather, soap and candles as heavy taxes on necessaries.read · scan
• p. 521–522Taxes on coal and corn bounties and duties raise subsistence prices; some yield revenue, others merely harm trade.read · scan
• p. 522–523Taxes on bread and meat in Holland and elsewhere raise labour prices, ruining manufactures; methods of taxing consumables compared.read · scan
• p. 523–524Excise duties fall on luxuries; customs duties, anciently taxes on merchants' profits, were laid on all goods, ignoring that consumers finally pay.read · scan
• p. 524Historical list of English customs duties: wool, leather, wine tonnage, poundage and successive subsidies at five per cent.read · scan
• p. 524–526Later duties follow the mercantile system, favouring exports and discouraging imports, with bounties and drawbacks; Smith says it harms revenue of people and sovereign.read · scan
• p. 526–527Smith argues heavy import duties and prohibitions under the mercantile system encourage smuggling and reduce customs revenue, using taxation for monopoly rather than revenue.read · scan
• p. 527–528Moderate duties on a few articles of general consumption would yield more revenue than high taxes that diminish consumption or encourage smuggling.read · scan
• p. 528Proposes warehousing system for imported goods, duty paid on home consumption and none on export, extending the excise method to customs.read · scan
• p. 529–530Simplified customs on few goods with free trade in the rest would keep revenue and benefit manufactures, lowering money price of labour without lowering its real reward.read · scan
• p. 531Taxes on luxuries fall by rank; the inferior ranks' aggregate expense is largest, so taxes on their consumption, like excise on liquors, are most productive.read · scan
• p. 532–533Only luxurious, not necessary, expense of the poor should be taxed, since taxing necessaries raises wages or lowers labour demand, ultimately burdening the rich.read · scan
• p. 533–534A lighter malt tax could raise more revenue; tolls and passage duties on goods by weight or value affect commerce, obstructing interior trade when levied by value.read · scan
• p. 534–535Taxes on luxuries are paid voluntarily according to consumption; transit duties fall on foreigners; absentees contribute nothing to the government protecting their revenue.read · scan
• p. 536Luxury taxes are certain and convenient but costly to levy, as officers' salaries and perquisites take money from the people without reaching the treasury.read · scan
• p. 537Taxes on consumables raise prices, discourage consumption and production, reduce productive labour and divert national industry from its natural, more advantageous channel.read · scan
• p. 538Ruin of smuggler diverts capital from productive labour to unproductive maintenance, diminishing society's general capital and industry.read · scan
• p. 539Vexation from tax-gatherers is equivalent to an expense merchants would pay to escape.read · scan
• p. 540Spain's Alcavala, repeated on every sale, ruins manufactures and agriculture by preventing distant trade; Naples' lighter tax is less ruinous.read · scan
• p. 541Freedom of interior commerce under uniform taxation is a principal cause of Britain's prosperity, unlike France's fragmented provincial duties.read · scan
• p. 542–543Farming taxes is costly: farmers draw exorbitant profit, combine to bid low, and become opulent; restraints on wine trade harm commerce.read · scan
• p. 545Farming makes administration wasteful, and farmers-general's exorbitant profits could go to the state's revenue.read · scan
• p. 546Compares revenue levied per head in France and Britain, given France's better soil and long improvement.read · scan
• p. 547Heavy taxes on necessaries ruin Dutch manufactures; wealthy merchants stay only for the respect their republic gives them, sustaining industry.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 254Details the taxes paid by clergy and nobility, refuting claim that privileged orders contributed nothing to the state.read · scan
• p. 311Direct contribution is an unequal standard of wealth; indirect duties on consumption better reveal wealth, and local wealth arises from non-local causes.read · scan
• p. 357–359Burke judges the Assembly by a financier's plain duty: ample, equal, economical revenue and sound credit; instead revenue fell by more than a third.read · scan
• p. 359–360The salt monopoly and unequal provincial taxation are discussed, with the Assembly unable to replace the revenue.read · scan
• p. 360The voluntary fourth of income was a weak, unequal tax that spared luxury and avarice and burdened productive capital.read · scan
• p. 373Burke argues it is better for a people to pay and gain than to be relieved of taxes and acquire nothing; property must be respected.read · scan

John Marshall, Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of MarylandVol. 43

• p. 213Taxation, borrowing, commerce and moving national revenue across the country are cited as needing convenient means.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 145–147Drink duties by Excise men drain Scotland and hamper distillers; poet asks Fortune only for simple needs.read · scan
• p. 158–160Taxation and smugglers plunder Scotland of her coin.read · scan
• p. 184–186Begins a comic answer to the Surveyor of Taxes, listing goods and gear.read · scan
• p. 186–187A comic tax inventory of the poet's horses, carts and household, protesting the burden of taxation.read · scan
• p. 187–189Poet vows to go on foot rather than pay for a saddle, mocking the tax on possessions.read · scan

Articles of ConfederationVol. 43

• p. 161–162War charges are paid from a common treasury supplied by states in proportion to land value, through state taxes.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

• p. 509The Decurioni raise loans and taxes and dispute whether costs fall on the city or royal exchequer; the unemployed need support.read · scan

Constitution of the United StatesVol. 43

• p. 184–185Powers to tax, borrow, coin money, regulate commerce and bankruptcy.read · scan
• p. 185–186Rules on taxes, duties, and equal treatment of ports in commerce and revenue.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25

• p. 294–297Trade in strong drink and taxation of stimulants for revenue are defended; indirect taxes on injurious commodities are admissible and inevitable.read · scan

Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43

• p. 456Canal property and workers exempt from taxes; US may import supplies duty free into the zone.read · scan

13b.Public debt and the state's credit

See also: Taxation 8 · War and Peace 9a · Government 8b · Religion 13b

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

• p. 116–117Public debts, securities and sales of confiscated lands are confirmed and kept firm on the public faith.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 7–9Describes inquiry into the revenue of the people and of the sovereign, and effects of public debts on real wealth.read · scan
• p. 272Wars, debt and public profusion diverted capital to unproductive hands, retarding England's accumulation of riches that would otherwise have grown far greater.read · scan
• p. 446Effects of public debts on real wealth of the society.read · scan
• p. 551–552Commercial society makes governments need to borrow and gives subjects the means and inclination to lend.read · scan
• p. 552–553Merchants' capital turns over quickly, giving commercial states ability to lend; lending to government even increases their trading capital.read · scan
• p. 553–554Traces how nations' public debts grow, from personal credit to mortgaged funds, and how banks support government bills.read · scan
• p. 555Describes methods of funding public debt by anticipation or perpetual funding, letting governments raise the largest sums with the smallest tax increases.read · scan
• p. 556Sinking funds prove inadequate to pay war debts and are misapplied, so public debt accumulates and taxes persist.read · scan
• p. 557Refutes the view that public funds add capital: lending to government turns capital from productive labour to unproductive spending, adding nothing to the nation's capital.read · scan
• p. 558Compares paying expenses by current taxes versus funding: funding destroys existing capital but leaves private people better able to accumulate.read · scan
• p. 559Funding impairs private accumulation even in peace; Britain's peacetime burden equals what war would cost without funding.read · scan
• p. 560Rejects the claim that interest on public debt merely moves money between inhabitants; land and capital are the sources of revenue, and taxes ruin landlords' improvements.read · scan
• p. 560–561Heavy taxes and the tax-gatherers drive capital abroad, and paying revenue to public creditors, who lack interest in particular land or stock, causes neglect and waste.read · scan
• p. 561–562Smith weighs whether Britain's public debt and taxation can be borne, citing growing agriculture, commerce, rents and consumption as signs of national wealth and capital.read · scan
• p. 563Concealing public bankruptcy through a pretended payment is economically pernicious.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 242–243The rights of property are outraged under pretext of national faith to creditors; the citizen's property claim is prior to the creditor's.read · scan
• p. 244The vast debt created a monied interest, kept apart from landed property by French usages and inalienable holdings.read · scan
• p. 245Monied interest was envied by nobles and hated by the people, ostentatious in luxury, and disposed to novelty and change.read · scan
• p. 246–247Writers allied with the monied interest, removing popular envy of that wealth.read · scan
• p. 247–248Alliance of monied interest and writers united obnoxious wealth to desperate poverty, turning envy against ecclesiastical property to pay recent debts.read · scan
• p. 248–249The Assembly, true to the monied interest, confiscates clergy estates while sparing financiers and courtiers enriched by public debt.read · scan
• p. 287Fears confiscation becoming state policy and public debt growing so vast that a discontented monied interest subverts governments.read · scan
• p. 365Burke attacks the Assembly's confiscation of church property and its land-bank as unsound finance, ruinous to public credit.read · scan
• p. 365–366Burke shows how sound public credit requires open, exact statement of the security's value, which the Assembly's land-bank lacks.read · scan
• p. 367Burke shows the confiscated church lands cannot back the assignats; charges exceed income and the state cannot enrich itself by confiscation.read · scan
• p. 368New charges on the confiscated fund, such as compensation for suppressed offices, undercut the promised surplus and burden the public treasury.read · scan
• p. 368–369Burke ridicules the Assembly's unstated encumbrances and paper assignats, insisting the confiscated estate cannot answer the mortgages.read · scan
• p. 372Burke mocks the Assembly's bankrupt finance and shows Paris's treasury exhausted while provinces are drained to feed it.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 208–209Heavy taxation fleeces Britain; royal debtsread · scan

Articles of ConfederationVol. 43

• p. 165–166Borrowing, coining and appropriating money require nine states' assent.read · scan
• p. 166–167Pledges the public faith to pay debts and bills of credit contracted before the union.read · scan

George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43

• p. 243Cherish public credit: avoid debt, pay it in peacetime, accept taxes for revenue rather than burden posterity.read · scan

Constitution of the United StatesVol. 43

• p. 197–198Public debt validity and taxes on incomes without apportionment.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 364Property is a scrip of right to interest; the national debt sustains solvency.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

• p. 113–114Endowments as national property; the currency and national debt discussed.read · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

• p. 130Capitalists' wealth sustains unjust wars, repaid by taxation of the people.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1819)Vol. 43

• p. 273–274The United States undertakes to pay up to five million dollars, by treasury or interest-bearing stock from land sales.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

• p. 297–298Specifies payment schedule, coin and six percent interest for the purchase price, and US assumption of claimants' debts against Mexico.read · scan

Annexation of the Hawaiian IslandsVol. 43

• p. 438–439United States assumes the Hawaiian public debt up to four million dollars; customs relations continue.read · scan

13c.Public spending, extravagance and the treasury

See also: Taxation 6d · Government 8b

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

• p. 36Ch'iu would give the people plenty in a small territory.read · scan

Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33

• p. 63An inscription records 1600 talents spent on the workmen's radishes, onions and leeks; Herodotus infers the greater cost of iron, bread and clothing.read · scan
• p. 74–75The lake yields the royal treasury a talent of silver daily from fish, and Sardanapallos's wealth is mentioned.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

• p. 86The tax-farming companies ask to annul an over-priced contract, a scandalous demand from rash speculation.read · scan

Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12

• p. 8He persuaded Athenians to stop dividing silver-mine revenue and use it to build ships.read · scan
• p. 22–23He exacts money from island allies, joking of Persuasion and Force against Poverty and Impossibility.read · scan

Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12

• p. 47–48Pericles defends spending the allies' treasure on the city's buildings, since the surplus should yield eternal honor and pay.read · scan
• p. 49Public works spread plenty among merchants, mariners and craftsmen.read · scan
• p. 50–52Accused of squandering revenues, Pericles offers to pay for the buildings himself and the people bid him spend on.read · scan

Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12

• p. 203–204Crobylus quips that war cannot be fed at so much a day.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

• p. 350–353The crowds of visiting magistrates burden the small community's slender finances.read · scan
• p. 364Large sums owed to the city and public works charged excessively.read · scan
• p. 373–374Funding the Prusenses' bath from collected debts and local contributions, with no new tax.read · scan
• p. 377–378Millions of sesterces wasted on unfinished aqueducts.read · scan
• p. 379Large public sums wasted on unfinished or flawed theatre, gymnasium, baths and aqueduct.read · scan
• p. 379–381Avoiding throwing away further cost after sunk expense.read · scan
• p. 383–384Byzantium's costly annual embassy and taxes are trimmed to lighten the city's public expense.read · scan
• p. 402–403Aqueduct costs must fit the city's finances; contributions support the indigent.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

• p. 397–399The kiosk's jewelled ceiling and lattices amaze the Sultan, who draws on his treasury for gems.read · scan

Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36

• p. 10–11Colonies cost little; garrisons consume the country's revenues so gain becomes loss.read · scan
• p. 52Lavish spending forces heavy taxes and impoverishes the prince, whereas thrift lets Julius and Spain finance wars without burdening subjects.read · scan
• p. 53A prince should be sparing with his subjects' property but may be lavish with plunder taken from others, as Cyrus, Caesar and Alexander.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

• p. 160Crassus is cited: no gold suffices for a prince, and subjects' poverty keeps them obedient.read · scan
• p. 160A king's safety rests on his people's wealth; impoverishing them breeds sedition, since beggars have nothing to lose.read · scan
• p. 160The Macarien law caps the king's hoard so he cannot impoverish the people or wrongfully seize goods.read · scan
• p. 215They spend stored gold and foreign debts freely to wage war.read · scan
• p. 215Indemnities and revenue lands from the conquered swell the treasury beyond seven hundred thousand ducats yearly.read · scan

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

• p. 111The Pope, a needy bankrupt potentate, pays in a mace-bearer's office bringing about 200 crowns a year instead of land.read · scan
• p. 319–320The Cardinal withholds Cellini's seven thousand crowns, arguing public need and fear he would invest in Italy and leave.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 359Answers the covetous objection that spending on a navy is unprofitable to the queen's coffers.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

• p. 73–74Money is not the sinews of war; Solon told Croesus better iron would master his gold.read · scan
• p. 116–117Princes spend great cost on garden ornament for state and magnificence, which adds nothing to true pleasure.read · scan

Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46

• p. 25–27Gaveston's extravagant dress and jewels are condemned while soldiers go unpaid and the treasury is squandered.read · scan
• p. 35Prodigal gifts and idle shows have drawn the treasury dry, burdening the commons.read · scan

John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47

• p. 789Princes tolerate officers' large gains lest they seem odious to the people.read · scan
• p. 799The Duchess feigns that Antonio embezzled in his accounts, confiscating his goods; officers and Bosola comment on extortion and gold.read · scan

John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18

• p. 29Cleopatra's jewels are renamed as taxes and provinces, kingdoms sold for a kiss.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

• p. 114–115Disposes of unsold lands, fines and revenues of the Commonwealth, which are not to be alienated without Parliament's consent.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

• p. 129–130Detailed hire rates per day, advance pay and valuation of lost teams state the economic terms of the contract.read · scan
• p. 131Hire of waggons will bring thirty thousand pounds in hard money to counties complaining of scarce currency.read · scan
• p. 132–133Franklin advances over a thousand pounds of his own money for provisions; the repayment is luck, the remainder never paid.read · scan
• p. 154–155Franklin's accounts for supplying Braddock go unpaid as Loudoun postpones settlement and refers him to the treasury.read · scan
• p. 155Loudoun assumes army suppliers profit and disbelieves Franklin's claim of no commission; immense fortunes are made in such employments.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

• p. 449–450Ability to afford costly arms gives advantage to opulent nations.read · scan
• p. 453–454Public works facilitating commerce, roads, bridges, canals, harbours, can be financed by tolls proportioned to use, not general revenue.read · scan
• p. 454Cheaper carriage lowers goods' price more than tolls raise it; taxing luxury carriages relieves the poor.read · scan
• p. 454–455Smith argues roads, bridges and canals paid for by the commerce using them are built only where trade requires and suited to what it can afford.read · scan
• p. 456Tolls and local taxes for roads and lighting should fall on those who benefit rather than on the general revenue.read · scan
• p. 466Public expenses for roads, education and religion may be met by those who benefit, through tolls or fees, with general revenue covering deficiencies.read · scan
• p. 468Smith examines public revenue from sovereign's stock, profit, interest and mercantile ventures like banks, wine cellars and apothecary shops.read · scan
• p. 469–470Princes' mercantile ventures fail through profusion of agents; only the post office succeeds as a government trading project.read · scan
• p. 472Stock and credit are unstable; public land rent is a more permanent source of state revenue.read · scan
• p. 472Crown land rent could cover ordinary government expenses in feudal times.read · scan
• p. 473Smith compares British land rents and land tax with total revenue levied, showing crown lands could not fund modern government.read · scan
• p. 473–474The people's revenue depends on land's produce rather than rent; poor management by a single proprietor would reduce produce and population.read · scan
• p. 475–476Selling crown lands would pay public debt and, cultivated privately, raise produce, population and customs revenue; crown lands cost society more than they yield.read · scan
• p. 551Commercial luxury leads sovereigns and republics alike to spend revenue on pageantry, so hardly any amass treasure and most are in debt.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 253Examines France's finances: Necker's budget showed a modest deficit curable by fair taxation without confiscation.read · scan
• p. 253–254Compares the deficit with the amount seized from church property, showing confiscation was unnecessary.read · scan
• p. 268Discusses public accounts and huge unexplained grain-subsidy charges as evidence of France's economic condition.read · scan
• p. 356–357The revenue is the state and the spring of all power; a test of the Assembly's skill and patriotism.read · scan
• p. 357Public revenue gives scope to public virtue; national prosperity grows with revenue if a due balance between individual and state is kept.read · scan
• p. 361Patriotic donations and contributions plundered crown, churches and people; such expedients exhaust resources and cut off perennial supply.read · scan
• p. 363The Assembly's supposed economy is false: new bodies, armies and police cost more, and its credit is nil among commercial nations.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

• p. 385–386Economy and public finances of the army and treasury are at issue.read · scan
• p. 393Burke defends limiting the discretionary pension list within the civil list as regular provident economy through estimate.read · scan
• p. 395Miserly saving blights a nation's abilities and energies; true economy rewards service.read · scan
• p. 397Economy is a distributive virtue of selection, not mere saving; expense may be part of true economy.read · scan
• p. 399–400Enormous grants to the house of Russell outrage economy.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 235–236Gentry waste hard-saved gear on new bridges and harbours.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

• p. 462–463Poor distrust the rich and powerful; beggars are forced into the Lazzaretto, and public money is wasted on bailiffs' premiums.read · scan
• p. 518–519City treasury exhausted and taxes unpaid; requests for tax relief and royal funds for plague expenses.read · scan

Treaty with the Six NationsVol. 43

• p. 231The US pays goods and annual annuities for road rights and peace, and provides implements, animals and artificers.read · scan

Treaty with France (1803)Vol. 43

• p. 250Introductory note recounts the purchase of Louisiana for money and the importance of the Mississippi outlet for the country's produce.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25

• p. 307Government control of railways, banks and companies would make careers depend on the state.read · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

• p. 131–132Money now spent on fear should buy knowledge.read · scan

Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28

• p. 188Taxes, excises and preferments lavished on the rulers themselves.read · scan

Treaty with Great Britain (1842)Vol. 43

• p. 284–285Property titles, settlement of a disputed-territory fund and payment of money to states are arranged.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

• p. 296–297United States agrees to pay Mexico fifteen million dollars for the territory acquired.read · scan
• p. 298–299United States undertakes to satisfy claims up to three and a quarter million dollars.read · scan

Treaty with RussiaVol. 43

• p. 435–436The United States pays seven million two hundred thousand dollars in gold for the cession, free of company claims or encumbrances.read · scan

Annexation of the Hawaiian IslandsVol. 43

• p. 439One hundred thousand dollars is appropriated from the Treasury for carrying the annexation resolution into effect.read · scan

Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43

• p. 453–454Eminent domain purchases and water and sewage rates repay costs over fifty years.read · scan
• p. 457–458US pays Panama ten million dollars plus $250,000 annually as compensation for the canal rights.read · scan

13d.Wealth and political power

See also: Democracy 4e

Aristophanes, The FrogsVol. 8

• p. 472–473Rich citizens now plead poverty in rags to avoid equipping warships, imitating Euripides' beggar kings.read · scan

Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12

• p. 44Outdone in private wealth by Cimon, Pericles turned to distributing public funds to buy popular support.read · scan

Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12

• p. 113He gives money to the people to win applause, and relies on riches and friends for public advancement.read · scan

Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12

• p. 158Money in elections and courts grew master of the state, turning the commonwealth into a monarchy.read · scan

Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33

• p. 307Claims Spain's power to threaten Europe derives from Indian gold, which buys intelligence and loosens loyalty.read · scan
• p. 308Princes abounding in treasure hold advantage; Guiana's riches would equal the king of Spain's Indies.read · scan
• p. 319Peruvian treasure has made the Spanish king the greatest monarch, threatening other princes of Europe.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

• p. 110–111Franchise for counties requires estate worth £200.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

• p. 149–150Franklin refuses proprietary favours and recompenses, saying his circumstances make them unnecessary and his Assembly seat forbids them.read · scan

Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27

• p. 164–165Merchant Sir Andrew Freeport, zealous for the moneyed interest, is set against the landed Tory knight.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 182Dealers in stocks and funds eager to convert paper wealth into land; no landed interest representedread · scan
• p. 307–308Representation based on contribution rests on property, irreconcilable with equality and establishing an aristocracy of the rich.read · scan
• p. 308–309Representation by contribution, i.e. by riches, is examined as a basis of political standing.read · scan
• p. 309Argues riches deserve respect and greater political share; the scheme fails to secure the rich from envy and oppression.read · scan
• p. 310A rich man paying a hundred times more is merely outvoted by the poor for ten representatives; wealth-based representation oppresses him.read · scan
• p. 313–314Contribution basis gives fewer voices to those paying more.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5

• p. 243Property's power attaches to every cent; by a higher law property writes every statute concerning property, even if owners are disenfranchised.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 352The banker and cottonspinner drive the earl out of his castle.read · scan
• p. 358–359Freedom, taxation and privilege are money questions; a yeoman's right to his dinner.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

• p. 106–107Riches are almost the only source of political importance, so the people's life is devoted to pursuing them.read · scan
• p. 172Without money, an independent candidate has small chance; bearing expenses amounts to buying the seat.read · scan

James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28

• p. 463–464Property secured when many hope to be rich; the growing power of wealth is a danger, yet hereditary wealth fosters refinement and the arts.read · scan

James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42

• p. 1372–1374Money and taxes serve the politician's own pockets.read · scan

13e.The wealth of the Church and its abuses

See also: Religion 12b · Charity 7a · Taxation 9b · Sin 8e

Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20

• p. 77Sacred things are sold for gold and silver.read · scan
• p. 78Dante contrasts Peter, who asked only 'Follow me', with popes who stow gold in purses.read · scan
• p. 78Dante denounces papal avarice: gold and silver made a god, no better than idolatry but a hundredfold worse.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20

• p. 379–381Church property belongs to those seeking Heaven, not kindred; orders founded without gold or silver; usury compared to clerical greed.read · scan
• p. 399Church serving as purchase of base gold rather than blessed life; covetousness of successors condemned.read · scan
• p. 407Pardoners pay with unstamped metal, counterfeit promises sold to fools.read · scan

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40

• p. 12–17He avoids the poor and deals with the rich, profiting from begging.read · scan

Traditional BalladsVol. 40

• p. 137–140The abbot and prior scheme over the knight's forfeited lands, while the prior says it is pity to seize them.read · scan
• p. 140–142The monk gloats about the four hundred pounds a year the abbey will gain from the knight's lands.read · scan

William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39

• p. 17Ambitious dean measures a benefice by its yearly worth; the parson ignores its revenue.read · scan

Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36

• p. 39Alexander opened a way to accumulate wealth for the Church which Julius used and added to.read · scan

Martin Luther, The Ninety-Five ThesesVol. 36

• p. 252–253Money in the chest increases avarice and gain, not the church's suffrage, which depends on God alone.read · scan
• p. 255–256Denounces exactions by pardon preachers; the Pope would rather sell St. Peter's than see his flock fleeced.read · scan
• p. 256–257Indulgences are nets fishing for men's riches, promoting gain rather than grace.read · scan
• p. 257–258Asks why the wealthy Pope does not build St. Peter's with his own money rather than poor believers'.read · scan

Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36

• p. 276–277Cardinals were created to funnel convents, benefices and revenues to Rome, ruining Italy and threatening Germany.read · scan
• p. 277–278Luther protests that Rome drains German money, three hundred thousand guilders yearly, impoverishing princes, cities and people.read · scan
• p. 278–279Annates granted for a crusade became a permanent tax funding Roman offices; money never goes against the Turks.read · scan
• p. 280Rome draws the best livings into its hands through the Pope's months and other devices out of avarice.read · scan
• p. 280–281Benefices are drawn to Rome through papal servants and manufactured disputes, impoverishing Germany.read · scan
• p. 281–282Bishops must buy the Pall at great sums, ruining wealthy sees such as Mayence.read · scan
• p. 282–283Coadjutors and commendams let Rome take convent revenues while divine service is abolished.read · scan
• p. 283–284Courtlings hold dozens of cures and prebends while Germans have their purses emptied.read · scan
• p. 284–285Benefices are sold, lent and made heritable property, a practice formerly called simony.read · scan
• p. 285The house of the Datarius is a market where benefices and licences to villainy are bought.read · scan
• p. 286Usury and stolen property are made legitimate for money at the papal house.read · scan
• p. 286–287Papal traffic in sees, benefices and indulgences is sold to the banker Fugger, making spiritual and temporal matters one business.read · scan
• p. 291Papal greed for wealth drives corrupt benefice practices and lying reservations.read · scan
• p. 292–293Reserved cases exist so that money keeps flowing to Rome.read · scan
• p. 293Papal court's pomp, greed and extravagance surpass royal courts and hinder study, prayer and faith.read · scan
• p. 309Rome sells indulgences, dispensations and licences, deceiving and robbing the poor.read · scan
• p. 310Bishops profit from pilgrimages while people waste money and labour.read · scan
• p. 311Rulers and popes promote shrines and indulgences for money while neglecting what God commands.read · scan
• p. 312The Pope and churches trade privileges and indulgences for gold; greed corrupts the goods of the Church.read · scan
• p. 313Papal gifts are sold for money while God's gifts are free; poor relief should be local.read · scan
• p. 314–315Masses and foundations have become means of livelihood driven by covetousness and money.read · scan
• p. 315–316No man should hold more than one prebend; covetousness masquerades as a 'proper station', and the Pope sells faculties for money.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

• p. 260Clergy yield first fruits to the prince and may hold two livings by dispensation, benefiting doctrine and the crown.read · scan
• p. 261Small livings too poor to maintain learned men; burdened by bishops' levies and tenths paid to the prince.read · scan
• p. 262Explains first fruits, tenths and subsidies the clergy pay to the crown, leaving a beneficed man little to maintain his family.read · scan
• p. 262–263Clergy complain of heavier taxes than laity, of armour charges and visitation fees; church is like an ass every market man rides.read · scan
• p. 263–264Church yields the prince's coffers steady payments; patrons sell advowsons or bestow benefices on servants for gain.read · scan
• p. 267Patrons extort oats, wheat and barley from ministers with poor benefices, explaining clergy's threadbare gowns; covetousness corrupts church livingsread · scan
• p. 269Avarice and negligence corrupt the church's offerings and endowmentsread · scan
• p. 269Scholars choose professions by prospect of bread; prebends are idle perpetual incomeread · scan

Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46

• p. 12–13Bishop's goods, house and rents are seized and handed to Gaveston.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15

• p. 349Dr. King offers to raise the church lease's fine to improve Donne's estate.read · scan
• p. 349–350He declines increase of his estate from church property.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

• p. 141–142Grand monsignors live in magnificent palaces without money or servants; common people vow poverty and starve.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

• p. 220Burke contrasts England's respect for religious endowments with French confiscation of church lands.read · scan
• p. 226Church revenue should not be used by avarice or public rapacity.read · scan
• p. 237–238Clergy's involuntary poverty draws contempt, while wealth and titles should not scorn what deserves reverence.read · scan
• p. 279–280Confiscation of the clergy's fortunes; the new pensionary establishment is degrading and will draw only the lowest classes.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

• p. 96–98Greedy elder at the collection plate takes their tippence.read · scan

George Long, M. Aurelius AntoninusVol. 2

• p. 311Defenders of the old religion feared loss of profits from sacrifices.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

• p. 429Church wealth draws unfit nobility's children into bishoprics; money works to unspiritualize the church, making a bishop a surpliced merchant.read · scan
• p. 461Priest receiving £2000 meant for the poor spends a pittance on the founder's dole of bread and beer, condemned by C.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

• p. 165Missions gained great wealth in cattle and hides, and the hide trade began.read · scan

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