Riches and Poverty (1910)

Through the income tax we go directly to the person upon whom we desire to levy taxation, and take from him such portion of his earnings or other profits as we consider to be hi...

Lest there be any lack of perspective in our view of the distribution of wealth and of the material progress of the working classes, I preface this concluding chapter with a not...

It is an amusing statistical fact that at the census of 1901 our "overcrowded" England had but 558 persons to the square mile, or one person to 1.15 acres, or one family to abou...

In considering and estimating the national income it is necessary to remind ourselves, in the first place, that our production, our exports and our imports, alike consist of bot...

It has already been remarked in these pages that quite inadequate numbers of persons are engaged in the production of many useful articles. This would be true even if all the in...

In a commonwealth a man would need a healthy mind in a healthy body to be true to himself, and to every man. In an unorganized community, in which each man must needs struggle w...

Every year in the United Kingdom there are some 700,000 deaths and some 1,200,000 births. The social structure which we seek to improve thus offers us a double hope. However deg...

The congestion of so much of the entire income and accumulated wealth of the United Kingdom in a few hands has a most profound influence upon the national development. It means...

Taking the population of the United Kingdom, 1908, at 44,500,000, and the total income at £1,844,000,000, we get an average income per head of about £40.

In considering the earnings, as distinguished from the rates of wages, of the manual labour classes, we have found it necessary to make an allowance for time lost through sickne...

Although it is a well-known fact that the increase of population of the United Kingdom is practically an addition to the urban population, it may be well to preface consideratio...

In "Riches and Poverty," edition 1905, I passed at this point to the consideration of the cruellest phase of Poverty, the poverty of the aged. Since 1905 Mr Asquith has given us...

The Wage Index Numbers are those of the Board of Trade (Cd. 4954). The Profit Index Numbers are based upon the Inland Revenue Assessments. The Financial Year 1893-4 is taken to...

We have seen that, although the sum of the land rents taken by the owners of the British area is actually very great, it is small as compared with the total of the national inco...

Let us now consider the area of the United Kingdom. I use the word area with intention, for it is its area which differentiates land from all other commodities. Man can make soi...

relation to the extent of the national income. For the total, it should be remembered, includes the value of the land of the United Kingdom. Subtracting it, we see that the weal...

We pass from the consideration of the property which is left at death in a single year to the estimation of the value of the total capital stock of the United Kingdom.

Our review of the extraordinary facts relating to what has been called with grim humour the "National" income, prepares us for an examination of the estates of rich and poor.

+---------------------------+---------------------+ | | THE DEAD. | | +---------------------+ | |Averages of the Death| | |Duty Records in the | |CLASSES OF ESTATE. |five years...

It is instructive to note how the joint-stock company promoter calculates the wages factor in forming his plans. I recently had sent to me the prospectus of a gas company, forme...

In "Riches and Poverty," edition 1905, it was urged that the then existing Estate Duties, ranging from 1 per cent. to 8 per cent., might be sensibly increased. The revisions whi...

During recent years a considerable share of the thoughts of men has been devoted to the consideration of one part of our fiscal policy,—that part which is concerned with Customs...

1893-4 £673,700,000 1894-5 657,100,000 1895-6 677,800,000 1896-7 704,700,000 1897-8 734,500,000 1898-9 762,700,000 1899-1900 791,700,000 1900-1 833,300,000 1901-2 867,000,000 19...

After dealing at some length with the details of British taxation it is well to point out why it is necessary for the British Government to raise so much revenue by taxes.

"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion...

the United Kingdom probably amounts to £300 per head of the population, or £1,500 per family of five persons, is to mask in averages a great inequality of distribution.

The misdirection of labour and the waste of income can be checked if we would have it so. It is in our power, as a nation, to employ the wealth of the community for national end...

It has been observed by Professor Marshall that "perhaps £100,000,000 annually are spent even by the working classes, and £400,000,000 by the rest of the population of England i...

Through an Income Tax taxation can be applied according to "ability" 291 The British Income Tax an ancient impost 291 The so-called "Land" Tax of 1692 was an income tax 292 The...

An insufficient production of ponderable commodities 250 The small stream of ponderable things is made the subject of unnecessary services 251 Present production is wasteful 252...

An increasing population in a diminishing number of centres 209 Our many poorhouses 210 The years taken from the lives of the poor 211 Crowding and overcrowding 212 Tenement sta...

Progress in 40 years 330 Some items in material progress, 1867-1903 332 What Dudley Baxter wrote in 1867 333 The poor within our borders to-day are as large in number as the ent...

The governance of the rich 141 The direction of life and labour through expenditure 143 The cotton trade and the fate of its products 144 The demand for woollens 145 The call fo...

The renewal of the race 173 The verdict of anthropology 173 Injustice before birth and after 176 The innocence of the Factory Act 178 The Physical Deterioration Committee on rea...

Two million persons over 65 years of age and most of them poor 272 Mr Thomas Burt's return of aged paupers 273 Mr Ritchie's return of number of paupers relieved during a year 27...

The Error of Distribution and the heritage of the child 191 The nation loses the bulk of its intelligence and genius 191 The school must be a preparation for life 192 The doctor...

The average family income 32 Investigation of number of Income Tax payers 33 Number of incomes under £700 39 Number of incomes over £700 measured by number of large houses 43 Ap...

Growth of profits in recent years 107 Rise and fall of wages in recent years 108 Growth of profits compared with rise and fall in wages 110 Labour bears the brunt of depression...

The total product consists of goods and services 8 The exchanged product can be measured 9 Income Tax assessments; my 1905 estimate confirmed 11 The income eluding taxation 13 I...

The migration from the country to the towns 234 The decrease in agricultural employment and its causes 240 Agriculture must be an increasingly limited field for employment 240 T...

Accident and disease concomitants of wages 125 Laxity of factory inspection 127 Accidents in factories and workshops 127 Diseases of occupations in factories and workshops 129 A...

Area the fundamental attribute of land 81 Almost the entire area in private hands 82 One-half the area owned by 2,500 persons 83 The number of landlords 84 Estimate of land rent...

The national accumulations small in relation to the national income 159 More evidences of poverty than of wealth 159 The moral of oversea investments 160 Six thousand millions o...

Effect of congestion of capital upon distribution 93 Practical examples of the distributive process 94 Capital largely divorced from business ability 99 Schedule D profits compa...

The Death Duty Reforms of 1907-9 320 My suggestions of 1905 now law 321 The plain justice of the Lloyd George Scale 322 The alleged burden of the Death Duties 323 Do our Death D...

The graduated Estate Duty of Sir William Harcourt 51 Deaths per annum in the United Kingdom 54 Numbers and values of estates passing at death in recent years 55 Savings of the p...

A source of revenue not necessarily a source of taxation 326 A State without revenue 327 Socialism and revenue and taxation 327 The German Governments rich are Governments 328 H...

Estimate of the accumulated wealth of the United Kingdom 62 Public property, Imperial and local 65 The national and local debts private mortgages upon public assets 67 British w...

The famous first maxim self-contradictory 287 Taxation in relation to the Error of Distribution 288 The doctrine of equality of sacrifice 288 An unanswerable case for repeal of...

Living property owners estimated from Death Duty records 73 Growing avoidance of Death Duties 77 120,000 persons own two-thirds of the national capital 79 The alleged "capital"...

The false assumption that customs duties can determine prosperity 3 Evidences of riches and poverty as "arguments" 4 "Thirty per cent. of our population underfed" 5 A question o...