EXCISE, (generally understood to be from the Bel gic accuse, toll or tribute ; though others, as Skinner, de rive it from assisa, assize, as being rated by men appoin ted for that purpose,) a branch of the public revenue, arising from duties paid upon the manufacture or sale of certain commodities made or sold within the king dom. Excise, in its proper acceptation, applies solely to duties imposed on consumable commodoties made or produced at home, in contradistinction both to customs, which are duties payable upon commodities imported from abroad, and to assessed taxes, which are duties im posed upon the use of certain commodities not imme diately consumable. From experience, however, of the utility of some of the excise regulations, certain branch es of revenue arising from both of these have occasion ally been put under the management of the excise, but this was an extension not contemplated at its first esta blishment.
The origin of excise, as well as other branches of re venue, must be sought for in the unavoidable wants of the state, coilsequent upon the progress of civilization and extension of commerce. The revenue required to defray the expense of providing either for the internal security or external defence of a state, may be drawn either from some fund belonging to the sovereign and the public, or from a part of the private revenue of the people themselves, levied by means of taxation. In the earlier periods of society, the former mode appears al Nrays to have prevailed, and, in Many 4tafes, even after the introduction of commerce, public property has been regarded as one of the great sources of revenue ; the silver mines of Attica constituted a large part of the pub lic funds of the Athenian republic ; and in all the king of modern Europe, the crown lands were long the chief resource on which the sovereign relied for defray ing his expellees. In time, this resource was found to be wholly insufficient, partly from the waste and dila pidation of this public property, but chiefly from the rapid increase of expenditure in the progress of society. To supply the deficiency, taxes were introduced, upon the equitable principle, that the people were bound to contribute a part of their private revenue, to answer the exigencies of the state, incurred for the common safety and benefit of all. Taxes must vary in their nature, ac cording to the situation of the community, and the mode of subsistence. In countries chiefly agricultural, taxes
upon land will probably form the principal source of the public income ; in commercial states, taxes upon com modities will be found most availing. In taxing dities, foreign goods imported are generally first selected; the duties payable upon these constitute that branch of revenue denominated the customs. As the exigen cies of the state increase, taxation is extended to inland manufacture, and inland trade of various descriptions : it is this last branch of revenue which constitutes the excise.
It can hardly be doubted, that in every community so far advanced in civilization as to admit an active inter change of commodities and the separation of trades and professions, some species of taxation in the nature of an excise will be introduced, so soon as the wants of the sovereign or the state call for any extraordinary supply. That taxes upon' inland consumable commodities actu ally took place in ancient times is evident, though the information we have of the manner in which the public revenues in those periods was levied, is too imperfect to enable us to determine with accuracy upon what commodities the duties were imposed, or under what regulations they were enforced. Among the Greeks and Romans, consumable commodities of most general use appear to have been subjected to various rates ; and so far as can be found, these were laid on the sale or transit of the goods, and not, as in many cases in modern times, upon the manufacture. The common mode of levying the duties, was by officers stationed either at the principal ports, at the entrances of towns, or in cer tain places upon the usual roads ; and the practice seems to have been universal, of farming out the different branches of revenue, instead of levying them by the im mediate officers of government. In modern times; ex cise duties appear to have been first introduced by the commercial states. Among these, the extent of territo ry being inconsiderable, and the circulation of goods frequent and rapid, consumable commodities constitu ted an obvious, and probably an easier source of reve nue than any other. These were therefore resorted to, when large sums for the public service were required. In the Low Countries, and in Holland, duties of this description were first brought to a regular system, and hence probably we have borrowed the name from the Belgic.