David Ricardo：On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 337

This then is a further proof, that no particular disadvantage arises from taxes on necessaries, on account of their raising wages and lowering the rate of profits. Profits are indeed lowered, but only to the amount of the labourer's portion of the tax, which must at all events, be paid either by his employer, or by the consumer of the produce of the labourer's work. Whether you deduct 50_l._ per annum from the employer's revenue, or add 50_l._ to the prices of the commodities which he consumes, can be of no other consequence to him or to the community, than as it may equally affect all other classes. If it be added to the prices of the commodity, a miser may avoid the tax by not consuming; if it be indirectly deducted from every man's revenue, he cannot avoid paying his fair proportion of the public burthens.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33310
Locator：Excerpt 337 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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