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ESSAYS IN PERSUASION

PART

of attaining the desired equilibrium. Youcan increase the burdens on the taxpayer, oryou can diminish the claims of the rentier.If you choose the first alternative, taxation willabsorb nearly a quarter of the national incomeof France . Is this feasible? If it is ever safeto speak about the political atmosphere ofanother country, I should judge from recentindications that the French public will certainlyrefuse to submit to the imposition of a burdenof additional taxation sufficient to satisfy theclaims of the rentier at their present level.And even if such taxation were politicallypossible, it would probably break down ad-ministratively. The pressing task of theFrench Treasury is not to devise additionaltaxes, but to construct an administrativemachine capable of collecting those whichexist. If, therefore, I were in your place,I should not, as a politician, give anotherminute’s thought to new taxes, but wouldconcentrate, so far as concerned the fiscal partof my office, on consolidating and administeringthe taxes already voted.

Since this by itself is not enough, your nextbusiness—provided you accept my conclusionas to the mind of the French public—is toconsider coolly how best to reduce the claimsof the rentier. Three methods offer them-selves: first, a general capital levy; second,a forced reduction of the rate of interest on thepublic debt; third, a rise of prices which wouldreduce the real value of the rentier’s money