Property assessed Annual Profits
Year. to Property-tax. of Trade.
1815 £60,000,000 £37,000,000
1842 95,250,000
1844 ... 60,000,000
Increase 58 per cent.
„ ... 62 per cent.
Annual rate of increase 1·7 per cent. 1·7 per cent.
Here, then, we find, that the property assessed to the property tax has
increased 35,250,000_l._ in 27 years, from 1815 to 1842, or upwards of
1,000,000_l._ sterling a year; this is at the rate of 1·7 per cent.
every year, whereas the population of Great Britain has increased at
the rate of only 1·4 per cent. per annum. But the amount of assessment
under the property tax, it should be borne in mind, does not represent
the full value of the possessions, so that among this class of
proprietors there is far greater wealth than the returns show.
As regards the annual profits of trade, the increase between the years
1815 and 1844 has been 23,000,000_l._ in 29 years. This is at the rate
of 1·7 per cent. per annum, and the annual increase in the population
of Great Britain is only 1·4 per cent. But the amount of the profits of
trade is unquestionably greater than appears in the financial tables of
the revenue of the country; consequently there is a greater increase of
wealth over population than the figures indicate.