INCOME tax, a direct contribution of a certain proportion of the annual gains of individuals for the public service, which has recently become an important branch of the revenue of Great Britain. An at tempt was made in 1702 to levy a tax of this description ; but it proved very un productive, and therefore was discon tinued. Towards the end of the year 1798, Mr. Pitt proposed, in lieu of the addition al assessed taxes, a general tax on income, whether arising from land, personal pro perty, or from any profession, office, trade, or other employment. The act was pass ed 9th January, 1799 ; and the duties im posed by it were ten per cent. on all in comes of 200/. per annum and upwards, and lesser proportions on incomes be tween that amount and 60/. per annum, which paid a one-hundred and twentieth part, or ten shillings per annum : incomes below 60/. a year were wholly exempt. The great object of this tax was, to raise a considerable proportion of the public supplies within the year, and to liquidate within a short time what might be further raised by loan ; with the latter view, the • payment of the interest, and redemption of the capital, of part of the loans for the years 1798, 1799, and 1800, was charged on the produce of the tax ; but it being a tax, which, from its commencement, had been very unpopular, both from its weight and the disclosure of the circumstances of individuals with which it was attended, it was repealed in April, 1802, and the charges upon it transferred to the Con volidated Fund.
In 1803 the income tax was revived, with some alterations in the mode of col lecting it, under the title of the property tax : the rate at which it was now im posed was 5 per cent. on all incomes above 150/. per annum, and lesser pro portions on incomes between that amount and 60/. per annum. In 1805 it was in creased to per cent.; and in 1806 it was raised to the original rate at which it had been imposed, or 10 per cent., while the scale of lesser rates was made to com prehend all incomes amounting to 50/. per annum. By this means, and by deducting the tax on the dividends of the public funds at the Bank, and abolishing most of the former abatements and exemptions, the sum raised by it has been consider ably augmented, the estimated produce being as follows : 1804 at Is. in the pound L. 4,650,000 1805 at. Is. 3d. ditto........ 5,937,500 1806 at 28.. ..... ditto........ 11,500,000 An income tax, if it could be so regu lated as to bear a just proportion to the different modes in which the incomes of individuals arise, and did not extend to such amounts of income as are absolutely necessary for subsistence, would become the most equitable, as well as the most productive mode of taxation.