Commonwealth

part of Morocco and Guinea ... But of all forms of traffic in which a
prince can engage, the sale of honours, offices, and benefices is the
most pernicious and sordid, as I have already said. ...
The augmentation of the revenue by charging the merchants who import and
export commodities is one of the oldest and commonest customs of
commonwealths. It is founded in equity, for it is reasonable that the
man who wants to m ake his profit out of the subjects of another should

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pay some duty to the prince or the people, as the case may be... One
should go upon the principle of increasing the export duties, payable by
foreigners, on things they cannot well do w ithout, for this both
increases the revenues, and helps the subject. The customs on raw
materials imported from abroad should be lowered, and that on
manufactured articles increased, and their import from abroad, or the
export from this country of such raw materials as iron, hides, steel,
wool, linen thread, raw silk, and such like should be prohibited
altogether. In this way the subject makes his profit on the manufactured
article, and the prince on the customs. Such a prohibition was imposed
in 1563 by Philip II of Spain, as an act of retaliation against a
similar measure of the Queen of England three years earlier. ...
The last method of raising revenue is to tax the subject. One should
never have recourse to it till all other measures have failed, and only
then because urgent necessity compels one to make some provision for the
commonwealth. In such a case, seeing that the security and defence of
each private citizen depends on the preservation of the common good,
each individual must be prepared to assist in the matter. In such a
crisis, taxes and impositions are most just, for nothing is more just
than that which is necessary, as a Roman senator once observed.
Nevertheless, in order to secure that an extraordinary tax, imposed in
time of war, should not be continued in peace time, it is better to
impose it in the form of a forced loan. Moreover the money comes in more
readily when the payer hopes both to receive his m oney back again
sometime, and to enjoy the distinction of having made a contribution ...
Louis IX was the first to levy a general tax, as President Le Maître has
shown. The President did not add however that it took the form of an
extraordinary subsidy in time of war, justified by necessity, and never
became part of the ordinary revenues. On the contrary, St. Louis in his
testament addressed Philip, his elder son and successor in these words:
'Be devout in the service of God; be merciful and charitable at heart to
the poor, and comfort them with your assistance; keep the good laws of
your kingdom; do not levy taxes or impositions on your subjects, unless
urgent and evident necessity forces you to it, and for some just cause,
but not arbitrarily. If you do otherwise, you will not have the
reputation of a king, but of a tyrant. ... '

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It was declared by the estates of this realm, in the presence of King
Philip of Valois in the year 1338, that he could not levy any tax on his
people without their consent ... This rule has always been observed, and
is also a well established custom in Spain, England, and Germany. At the
Estates of Tours, assembled in the time of Charles VIII, Philippe de
Comines declared that there was nowhere a prince who had power to levy
taxes on his subjects, nor could he acquire such a right by
prescription, without their consent. ...
If anyone asks what form taxes should take which are to redound to the
honour of God, and the profit of the commonwealth, to the satisfaction
of men of substance, and the relief of the poor, I suggest that they
should be levied on those commodities which corrupt the subject. Taxes
should be raised on luxuries and ornaments of all sorts, perfumes, cloth
of gold and silver, silk, lace, fine tissues, gold and silver enamel.
They should also be charged on all unnecessary articles of clothing, and
on scarlet, crimson, and cochineal dyes and so forth. One should not
prohibit the sale of these articles. Men are so made by nature that they
find nothing more attractive than that which is strictly forbidden. The
more superfluities are denied to them, the more earnestly are they
desired, especially by giddy and unstable natures. It is better to make
such things so expensive by heavy taxes that only the very rich and
indulgent can afford them. ...
There is also the problem of the right use of the public revenues. The
upkeep of the king's household should first be provided for.
That secured, and the army and the officers of the crown paid regularly,
all poor subjects will benefit. If funds then permit, part should be
employed in constructing fortifications in strategic positions on the
frontiers, making roads, building bridges, chartering ships, erecting
public buildings, founding colleges of learning and of honour. This work
of upkeep is not only necessary, but it redounds to the profit of the
whole commonwealth. Crafts and craftsmen are encouraged, and the
necessities of the poor relieved. Moreover the unpopularity of taxation
is mitigated when the ruler sees to it that the money he takes from his
subjects is used for the benefit of all in general, and each in