elling price, and distillers who owned stocks on which
a smaller tax had already been paid reaped profits of millions of
dollars. When the tax on tea was increased in England, all dealers
that had accumulated a stock before the law went into effect were
gainers. Every change in taxation inevitably affects, either favorably
or unfavorably, many interests. The chance to anticipate a change in
tax laws or to get, from those in power, information of a proposed
change, makes speculation possible and political corruption
profitable.

The fact that a change in taxation is a disturbing element in price is
not to be deemed insignificant merely because "all comes out right
in the end." Every change in taxation is an element of uncertainty
in business and increases the fortunes of some men at the expense
of others. Hence no considerable change should be made without good
reasons in its favor. The older taxes have the virtue of stability,
but in many cases they have grown out of harmony with the industrial
conditions. While, therefore, from time to time there is a real need
of a reform in the tax system, it should not be undertaken without
recognizing the many and complex interests involved.

[Footnote 1: Meaning here not a certain political party, but a
principle of social action.]

[Footnote 2: The total debts of the _national_ governments of the
world just before the outbreak of the great war in 1914 were estimated
at about $44,000,000,000. (These figures include the debts of the
separate states in the federal unions of Australia and the German
Empire, and the separate debts of European colonial governments, but
not those of the states of the United States, and in no case including
the debts of minor divisions, the total figures for which are not
to be had.) The new debts created by the war give already more than
double the foregoing total.]

[Footnote 3: The special assessment is thus in its nature, in part a
private investment. The plan, of special assessments could easily be
applied in many more cases than is done at present.]

[Footnote 4: There are border-line cases where it is difficult to
decide whether a particular payment to the government in the form of a
fee, price for service (as water rates, etc.), and special assessment
(as for street paving) is in the legal sense a tax or not. Some
courts have, for example, decided that for certain purposes a special
assessment is to be called a tax, and in certain other c