to Petty's own definition, almost with verbal identity. I shall place the passages side by side:
Smith. "Interest is the compensation which the borrower pays to the lender for the profit which he has an opportunity of making by the use of the money." Bk. 1, ch. 6. |
Petty. "Wherefore when a man giveth out his money upon condition that he may not demand it back until a certain time to come, he certainly may take a compensation for this inconvenience which he admits against himself" (34). |
The canons of taxation prefixed to the fifth book are to be found either expressly stated or implicitly assumed in the "Treatise on Taxes," with the exception of the final one. As Petty followed Hobbes, and did not agree with Locke's conception of the limited sphere of government, which Smith adopted, we cannot expect a coincidence on this point. I think I can justify the general assertion by the following quotations: "Let the tax be never so great, if it be proportionable unto all, then no man suffers the loss of any riches by it" (17). "Ignorance of the numbers, wealth and trade of the people, causing a needless repetition of the charge" (5). "Another cause which aggravates taxes is the force of paying them in money at a certain time, and not in commodities at the most convenient seasons" (5). One of the causes of irregular taxing, he says in the "Verbum Sapienti," is "the opinion that certainty of rule is impossible" (482). A small but interesting resemblance between the two writers can be seen in the following passages:
Smith: "The rent of a house may be distinguished into two parts, of which the one may very properly be called the building rent, the other is commonly called the ground rent.
