To the objection that it was unjust to place the burden of taxation upon the shoulders of a single class of the nation,[101] instead of distributing it equally among all classes, the Physiocrats replied that the statesman’s ideal was not equal taxation, but the complete abolition of all taxation. This could only be achieved by taxing the “net product.” Suppose that we agree that the taxes should be paid by some other class. The question then is to determine what class of the community should be chosen. Shall we say that the farmer must pay them? But after deducting the “net product” what remains for the farmer is just the bare equivalent of his original outlay. Consequently, if we take 600 millions from the farmers by way of taxation there will be so much less capital for the land, resulting in a smaller gross product the following year,[102] unless they agitate for a reduction of 600 millions in their rents. If they succeed this will leave the proprietors in the position of having paid over the 600 millions to the State. But we must also reckon the losses and friction incurred in every deviation from the “natural order.” Suppose we decide that the sterile classes should pay the taxes. This class is _ex hypothesi_ sterile—that is, it produces the exact equivalent of what it consumes. To take 600 millions from this class is tantamount to a reduction of its consumption by 600 millions, or an equivalent limitation of its purchases of raw material. The result would be a diminished product in the future, unless the industrial classes succeeded in increasing prices by an equivalent amount. Even in that case the landed proprietors will have to bear the brunt of it: firstly, they will have to reduce their own consumption, and secondly, their tenants’, whose efficiency will thereby be impaired.[103]