ABSTRACT
The tax opinion of the eighteenth century contained, in addition to relatively technical doctrines, three more fundamental and characteristic elements all connected with the problem whether the poor man should pay taxation. The first was the theory that everyone, including the poor, should pay taxation as a matter of inherent political obligation; the second, that the poor should be exempted on grounds of compassion; the third, that taxes on the poor are not really paid by them but increase the price of labour. The social attitude of the eighteenth century was not based only on one political theory, but it was nevertheless based predominantly on one political theory. This was the 'freeholder,' non-functional conception of society. The freeholder conception was equally involved in the speculation of those who, prior to Bentham, attempted to add to or substitute for Locke's theory a vague utilitarian explanation of rights, such as that the right of private property is beneficial to society.
