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.

#98. Protection and Free Trade.# Almost every government has employed
taxation at one time or another, for the purpose of encouraging industry
within the country. It is often supposed that if purchasers are
prevented from buying foreign goods, they will have to buy home-made
goods, and thus manufacturers at home will be kept busy, and there will
be plent