Page:William Petty - Economic Writings (1899) vol 1.djvu/140

part of B. his Farm shall be greater then before. Secondly, that the Farmer to B. shall gain more then before the Taxe. Thirdly, that the Tenant or Farmer of A. shall gain as much as the King and Tenant to B. both. Fourthly, the Tax doth ultimately light upon the Landlord A. and the Consumptioners. From whence it follows, that a Land-taxe resolves into an irregular Excize upon consumptions, that those bear it most, who least complain. And lastly, that some Landlords may gain, and onely such whose Rents are predetermined shall loose; and that doubly, viz. one way by the raising^[1] of their revenues, and the other by exhausting^{[er 1]} the prices of provisions upon them.

6. Another way is an Excisium out of the Rent of Houseing, which is much more uncertain then that of Land. For an House is of a double nature, viz. one, wherein it is a way and means of expence; the other, as 'tis an Instrument and Tool of gain: for a Shop in London of less capacity and less charge in building then a fair Dining-Room in the same House unto which both do belong, shall nevertheless be of the greater value; so also shall a Dungeon, Sellar, then a pleasant Chamber; because the one is expence, the other profit. Now the way^{[er 2]} Land-taxe rates housing, as of the latter nature, but the Excize, as of the former.

7. We might sometimes^{[er 3]} adde hereunto, that housing is sometimes disproportionately taxed to discourage Building^[2], especially upon new Foundations, thereby to prevent the growth of a City^[3]; suppose London, such excessive and overgrown Cities being dangerous to Monarchy, though the more secure when the supremacy is in Citizens of such places themselves, as in Venice.

8. But we say, that such checking of new Buildings

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1. Perhaps "by the not raising" was intended.
2. Act of 1656, c. 24, Scobell, ii. 484; An Act for preventing the Multiplicity of Buildings in and about the suburbs of London. Cunningham, Engl. Industry, ii. 174.
3. A more intelligible punctuation would be: "of a City, suppose London; such excessive and overgrown cities."

errata:

1. read [enhansing] not [exhausting]
2. between [way and Land-Tax] interline [of a]
3. deleatur [sometimes]