GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE: TAXATION 279

important reason for extending the range of services, for
which payment is made in this fashion, only with great
reserve, From the point of view of tax-payers, as already
indicated, the question of importance which would remain
would be whether the marginal utility of government services
was sufficiently high to warrant the extent of deduction from
private incomes needed to cover their cost. Further, the
extension of the principle, of providing through government
action for needs which can be satisfactorily met by private
enterprise, needs to be justified on these grounds, if payment
is to be made by a tax, and not wholly by a charge of the
general nature of a price. As the sphere of government
activity is extended, there is considerable risk of the inclusion
of services notably more necessary to some sections of the
governed than to others, and not essential to some. The
ground for making the payment take the shape of a tax may
be, either that the payment covers services which are essential
to the general welfare, and the allocation of the specific benefits
 of which, among the participators in those benefits,
cannot be made; or, that the benefits accrue to all in proportions
 which make their value to each tax-payer correspond
to his payment in respect of them. This last phrase may be
taken to mean that the extent by which taxes must be
increased, to cover the outlay incurred in connection with
the rendering of a particular class of services by the government,
 may be regarded as the tax payment in respect of those
services.
Where it is deemed desirable to secure, through the
action of government, benefits for particular sections of the
community, and a satisfactory measure of the services received
 can be devised, the form of payment by a price set
on the services, sufficient to entirely cover their cost, would
be more just than payment through general taxation.
Where special classes benefit in special degrees not easily
or precisely measureable, a greater burden of taxation on
those benefited than on others would be in the direction of
justice. In some cases a compromise may be desirable, as
indicated earlier in this, and in the preceding, chapter, by
which the supply of government services should be rendered