PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. Writers on finance are accustomed to lay down certain general prin ciples of justice and of administration to which practical systems should conform. Taxes should he capable of yielding a large revenue; they Should be economical, i.e. the cost of collection should not materially increase the burden imposed upon the taxpayer; they should be elastic, capable of responding to a sudden demand for revenue; they should not impair their source through discour aging industry. So far as possible, they should be collected in such a way as to cause the tax payer the least inconvenience: they should he certain, so that each man might know what he might be expected to pay and make provision accordingly. Most important of all, they should be equitably distributed.
On what principle the distribution of taxes should be made is a question on which financial theorists are far from an agreement. In the first
half of the nineteenth century most writers re garded a tax as a payment to the State for pro tection, or for the privilege of securing an in come under the laws of the State. It followed from this view that taxes should be distributed according to the benefit received, or according to the cost incurred by the State in affording the benefit. Such a principle proved unsatisfactory, since both benefit and cost are indeterminable. In recent years the doctrine which has the widest following teaches that since civilized existence is conditioned by the State, melt individual is born with the duty of contributing to the needs of the State in proportion to his ability or faculty. This theory more nearly than any other corresponds with public sentiment and with the actual practice of taxation.