POSSIBLE SOURCES OF REVENUE 427 
directly on that fund, rather than to cause disturbance to A.D. 1683 
: _ ot —1776., 
prices by levying it on commodities’. But there were also 
objections of a political character; the excise was a branch and 
of revenue which had been assigned to the Crown; to touch Grounds. 
it in any way was difficult ; and to leave it in royal hands, and 
make it much more productive, would be to render the Crown 
less dependent on Parliament? Under the circumstances, 
it is not surprising that little was done to give effect to 
Davenant’s views; the taxes on malt’, and leather* imposed 
ander William III, were in accordance with his principles, 
and further steps were taken during the reign of Anne, in 
charging duties on candle-making, soap, painted calicoes and 
starch®; the Stamp Act, which was levied on newspapers 
and advertisements, may be placed in the same category. 
» tax upon land,” but held that * excises will affect land in no degree like taxes 
‘hat charge it directly.”’ Ways and Means, in Works, 1. 77. 
1 Sir Matthew Decker advocated a graduated tax on houses, as a means of 
‘mposing an equable burden on all classes and raising a million annually which 
might be used for the discharge of the debt. Serious Considerations on the 
several High Duties, London, 1744, p. 17. This is undoubtedly Decker’s; the 
seventh (1756) edition bears his name, as well as the title-page of Horsley’s reply 
‘Serious Considerations examined, 1744). A more ingenious proposal was put into 
shape in 1739 in an Essay on the Causes of the Decline of the Foreign Trade (1744), 
Brit. Mus. 8246. h, 1, which was attributed to Richardson. It is full of excellent 
eriticism on the then existing arrangements for taxation, and it proposes to replace 
all existing exactions, both local and national, by a single tax which should fall on 
averyone all round ; so far it coincides closely with the plan that was advocated by 
Sir Matthew Decker, but this new tax was not to be a tax on consumption but 
a tax that should be levied directly, by compelling everyone to take out a license 
for all sorts of articles of luxury which they might intend to use. The tract was 
reprinted more than once and appears to have attracted a good deal of attention. 
It is mentioned here as a curiosity in sumptuary proposals, and as an ingenious 
attempt to touch the pockets of the consumers directly with the least possible 
interference with trade, p. 44. Temple (Vindication of Commerce, p. 37) 
and Caldwell (Debates, 11. 782) attributed it to Decker, but the disregard of 
Decker’s own scheme, and the condemnation of the Navigation Acts, which 
Decker approved, render this most unlikely. Still more interesting is the 
proposal (Thoughts on the pernicious consequences of borrowing money, 1759) 
for substituting direct taxation on land and funded property, for the indirect 
taxes which hampered trade, and which. as Locke had argued. ultimately fell 
npon land. 
3 The feeling is alluded to in general terms by Davenant, Ways and Means, 
1. 76. William had the excise for life, but not the customs (Parl. Hist. v. 561), an 
arrangement which did not satisfy him. but which Bishop Burnet persuaded him 
Lo accept. 
8 Dowell, Taxation, 11. 56. 
¢ 8and 9 W. III. ¢. 21. & Dowell, 11. 76,