first edition Half-title. 1 vols. 8vo
1733 · London
by [Walpole, Robert, First Earl of Orford]
London: Printed for J. Roberts, 1733. First edition. Half-title. 1 vols. 8vo. Later boards. Some spotting and soiling of half-title, else a very good copy. First edition. Half-title. 1 vols. 8vo. Walpole's Proposal for the Excise on Tobacco and Wine. An outcry had arisen at Walpole's proposal for a change in the excise system. It was seen as the first step towards a general excise. What Walpole wished to implement was a change in the tax on imported wine and tobacco, which was at that time taxed upon entry into the country as duty. He proposed that the public revenues would be greater if these commodities were taxed when removed from the warehouses for sale as excise tax rather than when brought into the country. This was intended to check smuggling and to make London into a free port which would increase trade. The public did not trust the proposal and petitioned the government, beseiged the House and upon Walpole's capitulation he was burnt in effigy. Walpole abandoned the bill as he determined that "the act could not be carried into execution without an armed force, and that there would be an end of the liberties of England if supplies were to be raised by the sword". Kress Supplement 1781; McCulloch p. 324
(Inventory #: 22835)