A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions: Shewing the nature and measures of crown-lands, assessements, customs, poll-moneys, lotteries, benevolence, penalties, monopolies, offices, tythes, raising of coins, harth-money, excize, &c.; with several intersperst discourses and digressions concerning warres, the church, universities, rents & purchases, usury & exchange, banks & lombards, registries for conveyances, beggars, ensurance, exportation of money [&] wool, free-ports, coins, housing, liberty ofPetty, William, Sir
History
A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions: Shewing the nature and measures of crown-lands, assessements, customs, poll-moneys, lotteries, benevolence, penalties, monopolies, offices, tythes, raising of coins, harth-money, excize, &c.; with several intersperst discourses and digressions concerning warres, the church, universities, rents & purchases, usury & exchange, banks & lombards, registries for conveyances, beggars, ensurance, exportation of money [&] wool, free-ports, coins, housing, liberty of
Petty, William, Sir
Finance -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1660-1688; Taxation -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800
15. And forasmuch as possibly there may be more Art and Hazzard
in working about the Silver, then about the Corn, yet all comes
to the same pass; for let a hundred men work ten years upon Corn,
and the same number of men, the same time, upon Silver; I say,
that the neat proceed of the Silver is the price of the whole neat
proceed of the Corn, and like parts of the one, the price of like
parts of the other. Although not so many of those who wrought in
Silver, learned the Art of refining and coining, or out-lived the
dangers and diseases of working in the Mines. And this also is the
way of pitching the true proportion, between the values of Gold and
Silver, which many times is set but by popular errour, sometimes
more, sometimes less, diffused in the world; which errour (by the
way) is the cause of our having been pestred with too much Gold
heretofore, and wanting it now.
16. This, I say, to be the foundation of equallizing and ballancing
of values; yet in the superstructures and practices hereupon, I
confess there is much variety, and intricacy; of which hereafter.
17. The world measures things by Gold and Silver, but principally
the latter; for there may not be two measures, and consequently
the better of many must be the onely of all; that is, by fine
silver of a certain weight; but now if it be hard to measure the
weight and fineness of silver, as by the different reports of the
ablest Saymasters I have known it to be; and if silver granted to
be of the same fineness and weight, rise and fall in its price,
and be more worth at one place then another, not onely for being
farther from the Mines, but for other accidents, and may be more
worth at present, then a moneth or other small time hence; and if
it differ in its proportion unto the several things valued by it,
in several ages upon the increase and diminution thereof, we shall
endeavour to examine some other natural Standards and Measures,
without derogating from the excellent use of these.
18. Our Silver and Gold we call by severall names, as in _England_
by pounds, shillings, and pence, all which may be called and
understood by either of the three. But that which I would say upon
this matter is, that all things ought to be valued by two natural
Denominations, which is Land and Labour; that is, we ought to
say, a Ship or garment is worth such a measure of Land, with such
another measure of Labour; forasmuch as both Ships and Garments
were the creatures of Lands and mens Labours thereupon: This being
true, we should be glad to finde out a natural Par between Land and
Labour, so as we might express the value by either of them alone
as well or better then by both, and reduce one into the other as
easily and certainly as we reduce pence into pounds. Wherefore we
would be glad to finde the natural values of the Fee simple of
Land, though but no better then we have done that of the _usus
fructus_ abovementioned, which we attempt as followeth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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