(3) Every tax ought to be levied at the time, and in the manner, in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it. This is #the maxim of convenience#, and the reason for it is sufficiently obvious. As government only exists for the good of the people at large, of course it ought to give the people as little trouble as possible. And as the Government has immensely more money at its command than any private person, it ought to arrange so as to demand a tax when the taxpayer is likely to be able to pay it. Thus there seems to be no sufficient reason why the government should make people pay the income-tax in January, when they are likely to have plenty of other bills to pay. In respect of this maxim, the customs and excise duties are very good taxes, because a person pays duty whenever he buys a bottle of spirits or an ounce of tobacco. If he does not want to pay taxes, let him leave off drinking and smoking, which will probably be better for him in every way. At any rate, if he can afford to drink spirits and smoke tobacco, he can afford something for the expenses of government. The penny receipt duty, again, is in this respect a good tax, because when a person is receiving money he is sure to be able to spare one penny for the State, and he is generally so glad to get his money that he thinks nothing of the penny. (4) Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury. This is the #maxim of economy#. Thus, a tax ought not to be imposed if it would require a great many officers to collect it, and thus waste much of what is collected, or if it disturbs trade and makes things dearer than they would otherwise be. Again, the government ought not to cause people to lose time and money in paying the taxes, because this is just as bad for them as if they paid so much more taxes. In this respect the stamp-duties are very bad taxes, because in many cases it is requisite for a person to take his deeds and other documents to the stamp-office and lose his time, or else employ lawyers and agents to do it for him, who charge considerable fees. So troublesome are some of the stamp-duties that in many cases people neglect to have their agreements stamped, and prefer to trust to the honesty of those they deal with. Such agreements are thus often rendered of no legal value, and the government, for the sake of sixpence or a shilling, practically denies law to the people.