Is M. Floquet riding for a fall ? He has
denied the charge with suspicious earnestness, and certainly the last proceeding of his Cabinet gives some colour to the supposition. It is a tradition of French Governments that an Income-tax cannot be established in France, the manners of the people being irrecon-
cilably opposed to the necessary inquisitions. The French paterfamilias lives to save, but keeps his savings secret. The Cabinet, however, advised by M. Peytral, Minister of Finance, has resolved to propose a low Income-tax, so that the machinery may be perfected for a heavier one. It Is to belid. in the pound for Schedule D, and 2td. in the pound on possessions, in- cluding, of course, all bonds. Incomes of less than 280 will be exempt, but deductions made from the dividends payable to small owners will not be returned,—or, at least, no provision is made to that effect. The tax is expected to yield 22,000,000, but it excites furious wrath in the propertied class, which will extend, as we have argued elsewhere, down to wealthy peasants. They all know very well that, the engine once set up, the tax will rise to a shilling, and that secrecy will not be observed.
Previous page
