No. 2, yielding 170 qrs. at 4_l._ 8_s._ per qr. L748 Deduct the value of 15.4 {qrs. at 4_l._ 8_s._ or 8_s._ per} { qr. on 170 qrs. } 68 ----- ---- Net corn produce 154.6 Net money produce of L680 ----- ---- No. 3, 160 qrs. at 4_l._ 8_s._ L704 Deduct the value of 14.5 {qrs. at 4_l._ 8_s._ or 8_s._ per} { qr. on 160 } 64 ----- ---- Net corn produce 145.5 Net money produce L640 ----- ---- The money rent of No. 1 would continue to be 80_l._, or the difference between 640 and 720_l._; and that of No. 2, 40_l._, or the difference between 640_l._ and 680_l._, precisely the same as before; but the corn rent will be reduced from 20 quarters on No. 1 to 18.2 quarters, and that on No. 2 from 10 to 9.1 quarters. A tax on corn, then, would fall on the consumers of corn, and would raise its value as compared with all other commodities, in a degree proportioned to the tax. In proportion as raw produce entered into the composition of other commodities, would their value also be raised, unless the tax were countervailed by other causes. They would in fact be indirectly taxed, and their value would rise in proportion to the tax. A tax, however, on raw produce, and on the necessaries of the labourer, would have another effect--it would raise wages. From the effect of the principle of population on the increase of mankind, wages of the lowest kind never continue much above that rate which nature and habit demand for the support of the labourers. This class is never able to bear any considerable portion of taxation; and, consequently, if they had to pay 8_s._ per quarter in addition for wheat, and in some smaller proportion for other necessaries, they would not be able to subsist on the same wages as before, and to keep up the race of labourers. Wages would inevitably and necessarily rise; and in proportion as they rose, profits would fall. Government would receive a tax of 8_s._ per quarter on all the corn consumed in the country, a part of which would be paid directly by the consumers of corn; the other part would be paid indirectly by those who employed labour, and would affect profits in the same manner as if wages had been raised from the increased demand for labour compared with the supply, or from an increasing difficulty of obtaining the food and necessaries required by the labourer.