From taxes on expenditure a miser may escape; he may have an income of 10,000 per annum, and expend only 300_l._; but from taxes on profits, whether direct or indirect, he cannot escape; he will contribute to them either by giving up a part or the value of a part of his produce; or by the advanced prices of the necessaries essential to production, he will be unable to continue to accumulate at the same rate. He may indeed have an income of the same value, but he will not have the same command of labour, nor of an equal quantity of materials on which such labour can be exercised. If a country is insulated from all others, having no commerce with any of its neighbours, it can in no way shift any portion of its taxes from itself. A portion of the produce of its land and labour will be devoted to the service of the state; and I cannot but think that, unless it presses unequally on that class which accumulates and saves, it will be of little importance whether the taxes be levied on profits, on agricultural, or on manufactured commodities. If my revenue be 1000_l._ per annum, and I must pay taxes to the amount of 100_l._, it is of little importance whether I pay it from my revenue, leaving myself only 900_l._, or pay 100_l._ in addition for my agricultural commodities, or for my manufactured goods. If 100_l._ is my fair proportion of the expenses of the country, the virtue of taxation consists in making sure that I shall pay that 100_l._, neither more nor less; and that cannot be effected in any manner so securely as by taxes on wages, profits, or raw produce. The fourth and last objection which remains to be noticed is: That by raising the price of raw produce, the prices of all commodities into which raw produce enters, will be raised, and that therefore we shall not meet the foreign manufacturer on equal terms in the general market.