But the chief object of this progressive tax (besides the justice of rendering taxes more equal than they are) is, as already stated, to extirpate the overgrown influence arising from the unnatural law of primogeniture, and which is one of the principal sources of corruption at elections.
Thomas Paine: “But the chief object of this progressive tax (besides the justice of rendering taxes more equal than they are) is, as…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine argues for a progressive tax as a means to dismantle the influence of primogeniture and reduce electoral corruption.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
I have carefully avoided to enlarge upon the subject, because I am inclined to believe that what is called the present ministry, wish to see contentions about religion kept up, to prevent the nation turning its attention to subjects of…
I have no idea, considering the reforms which are now passing and spreading throughout Europe, that England will permit herself to be the last; and where the occasion and the opportunity quietly offer, it is better than to wait for a…
Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
As soldiers have hitherto been treated in most countries, they might be said to be without a friend.