THE SOURCES OF TAXATION.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Si,—Your correspondent "M." in his letter on "The Souices of Taxation" falls into the same error as those who would penalize capital in other forms. His proposed increased taxation on un- earned incomes is just as unfair, just as short-sighted as those who write their economic rubbish on the "conscription of wealth." Both financial expedients would have precisely the seine effect. One would be the constant effort—more often successful than not —to understate sources of income; and (2) to convert it (the pro- perty—personal or real) into such a form as would permit its transference to another country, and that country undoubtedly would be America—and, finally, to convey themselves after it with the utmost expedition! Fixed income means neither more nor less than past savings, or the results of past work and thrift. To deny (as pan i passu follows "M.'s" device) that people have a right to live on an unearned income is, in effect, to penalize the habit of saving. It can have no other effect.. What lies at the real root of the evil of conscription of wealth in any shape or forte? I have read hundreds of articles on the subject, but not one, it seems to me, puts plainly before the people the real disastrous economic result which would ensue. It is summed up in three words, "loss of confidence." The whole basis of any economic, commercial, or financial system is founded on this alone : the confidence that a man will be permitted to use that wealth, or competence, whieh the law admits is his, in any way he chooses, so long as it is consonant with the law of the land. To read what is written, and to hear what some people say, one would think that they believe (as perhaps they do) that unearned income employs no labour, eats no food, dwells in no houses, wears no clothes, pays no taies or rates, and lives, in a word, in some wonderful, unexplained way on a community, from which it takes everything and gives nothing in return ! If all the capital of the country were confiscated, by the by, where would labour be with-
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