1769 and 1780-1783, was entirely on real estate, the personal property
valuation remaining practically stationary, owing to the destruction
caused by the war.
There is a falling off in the share of taxes paid by the commercial
towns in proportion to their population. In 1782, Providence contained
8.23 per cent of the population, but it paid only 6.98 per cent of the
taxes. Newport's per centage of population had fallen to 10.56 per cent
and the per centage of taxes to 7.81. On the other hand, the country
towns had gained proportionately. Taking Providence county, exclusive of
the town of Providence, we find that in 1769, it contained 26.64 per
cent of the polls and 19.2 per cent of the property, in 1782 it
contained 25.27 per cent of the population and 27 per cent of the
property. There was but little change in the relative positions of the
other counties, Kings County made a slight gain, and the other counties
suffered a slight loss, with the exception of Newport County. Here the
loss of the Island towns was great. In 1769, they contained 19.09 per
cent of the polls and 26.7 per cent of the property while in 1783 they
had but about 16 per cent of the population and 15.2 per cent of the
property.
Customs and Excise Duties.
Among the acts of the first assembly under the Patent in 1647, occurs
the following:
"It is ordered that the Dutch, French or other alliants, or any
Englishman inhabitating among them, shall pay the like customs and
duties, as we do among them for all such goods as shall be imported for
the English, except beaver."
This act was probably of little practical importance as the trade of the
colony during the seventeenth century was very small. In 1655, an excise
duty of five shillings was imposed on every anchor of liquors and
quarter cask of wine, and three years later a like customs duty was
added. The revenue from both taxes at first went to the towns, but in
1674 it was transferred to the colony, as "the whole excise seems almost
all lost by neglect." The collection of the tax was to be farmed out.
Whether the tax was more productive than under town government we do not
know. It was repealed in 1686. Both customs and excise duties were
introduced by Andros, but disappeared with his government. In 1696,
however, the customs duties on liquors was reimposed by the colony, and
molasses was added to the list.[130] In 1707 slaves were added to the
dutiable articles, at £3 per head. About twenty or thirty were annually
imported from the Barbadoes, and their value was from £30 to £40 a
piece. The income from this source must have been of considerable
importance at the period. In 1715 the revenue from this tax in the naval
officers' hands was £289-17-3. In the same year the law was amended so
as to cover negroes brought in from the neighboring colonies. The act
seems to have remained in force until May, 1732, when it was repealed
under instructions from the English government. There seems to have been
no further imposition of customs or excise duties on the part of the
colony until the period of the Revolution. The state, as we have seen,
was left in an exhausted condition at the close of the war. The people
were unwilling to continue the payment of taxes and were behind on those
already levied. The annual interest on the debt was considerable.
A committee, appointed to devise means for supplying the treasury,
reported November, 1782, recommending the imposition of customs and
excise taxes. In February of the following year, an act was passed in
accordance with this recommendation to take effect on the tenth of April
following. Both customs and excise duties were imposed. Collectors do
not seem to been appointed until May, and in June the act was repealed
so that it was of little practical importance. At the same session,
however, its place was supplied by an act laying a duty of two per cent
ad valorem "on the Value, and at the Time and place of landing of all
Goods which shall be imported into this State being of the Growth or
Manufacture of any foreign State," the revenue, as before, to be devoted
to the payment of interest on the public debt. The act was to take
effect on July 1.
The law was enforced with severe penalties. No imported goods were to be
landed without permit obtained, on penalty of forfeiture of vessel and
cargo. No dutiable goods imported by land could be removed from the town
into which they were imported, or sold or consumed in that town without
a permit from the collector of impost, under penalty of forfeiture or a
fine equal to the value of the goods. In June, 1784, the duty was raised
to two and one half per cent. It was at this period that manufacturing
industries began to take root in Rhode Island, and, as a natural result,
we find evidence of the growth of the protective principle in tariff
legislation.
In February of the following year a committee was appointed "to draught
an act laying an additional duty upon hats, shoes, boots and such other
articles of foreign manufacture as may be manufactured within this
State." In May an act was passed discriminating against British vessels.
It provided for an additional duty of 7 1/2 per cent on goods imported
in any vessel owned in whole or in part by British subjects.
The result of the work of the committee appointed in February is seen in
an act of June, 1785, entitled 'An Act for laying additional Duties on
certain enumerated Articles, and for encouraging the Manufactory thereof
within this State, and the United States of America." The act is quite
extensive including the following articles:
25 %
Ready made garments, canes, brush handles, warming pan handles, mop
sticks, tailors' press and notch boards, house bells, toys.
20 %
Scythes, hoes, leather goods.
12 %
Paper, blank books, pewter ware, tin ware.
10 %
Tools for the use of block makers, chaise makers, tanners, curriers,
caulkers, shoe makers and husbandmen, (sickles, plane irons and saws
excepted) muffs, tippets, ermine, candles, soap, manufactured tobacco,
goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers ware. Instrument and cabinet
makers work, frame chairs, porter, beer.
5 %
Cordage, twine.
Special Duties.
Axes and adzes (per doz.) 6s.-20s.
Cards (per doz. boxes) 12s.
Women's shoes (per pair) 1s. 1s. 6d.
Cheese 3d. per lb.
Wrought gold 6s. per ounce.
Clocks and gold watches 18s.
Carriages £ 3, 15s. - £ 15.
Loaf sugar (3d. per lb.)
Hats 1s. - 6d. - 3s.
Iron hollow ware 3s. per cwt.
Dressed and tanned leather 3d. per lb.
Wrought silver 1s. per ounce.
Silver watches 6s.
Though the purpose of the act was protective, it is evident that in the
case of many of the articles enumerated, the duty was entirely a revenue
tax. In March, 1786, steps were taken towards laying an excise duty. A
committee was appointed to draw up a bill for the purpose. The committee
reported at the same session and an elaborate excise act was passed,
which was to go into effect on May 16; but at the session in that month
the act was suspended until the next session, when a committee of
revision was appointed. There is no farther mention of any legislation
in regard to the excise until December, when another excise law was
passed to go into effect on May 15, 1787, and remain in force for three
years. Neither of these acts seem to have been generally enforced. No
collectors were appointed under the act of March. Under the December act
collectors were appointed in May, 1787, but there is no record of any
subsequent appointments.
When government under the United States constitution went into
operation, in 1789, it became impossible for Rhode Island to pursue an
independent policy in regard to customs duties, and the General Assembly
at the May session passed a law providing that the same duties, payable
in the same money, be collected in Rhode Island as should be ordered by
Congress for the United States. In September the assembly supplemented
this provision by enacting a law similar to that which had been passed
by Congress. Goods imported from the United States and from North
Carolina were exempt from duty. In May, 1790, the state adopted the
constitution and the power to levy impost duties ceased.
The want of method in keeping accounts at the time renders it impossible
to state exactly the amount of revenue received under the acts imposing
import duties. I have found however nearly complete returns of the
duties collected in the counties of Providence and Newport, which
contained the principal posts of entry.
County of Providence.
(Includes receipts from October 1, 1783)
Total nominal receipts £21,533-14-7 3/4
Receipts in paper money of 1786, 11,464-4-1
---------------
Receipts in specie 10,069-10-6 3/4
Specie value of paper money receipts 1,550-14-6 3/4
---------------
11,620-5-1 1/2
Value in present dollars $42,414.
County of Newport.
(Includes receipts from July, 1783, May, 1789, and from Sept.
1789)
Total nominal receipts July, 1783, May, 1789, 18,900-1-8 3/4
Receipts in paper money of 1786, 10,131-12-8 3/4
---------------
Receipts in specie 8,768-1-0
Specie value of paper money receipts 2,181-10-4 1/2
---------------
Total specie value of receipts 10,949-11-4 1/2
Value in present dollars $39,966.
Receipts from September, 1789, 3,202.
---------------
Total 43,168.
Providence County 42,414.
---------------
Total for both counties 85,582.
Such figures, of course, are not exact, and it has been impossible to
find more than fragmentary returns from other counties. Such counties
were, however, comparatively unimportant. It will probably not be far
from the truth if we place the total receipts under the customs acts for
the period of between six and seven years, when they were in force, at
something over $90,000 or about $14,000 a year. The interest on the
public debt must have amounted to between $30,000 and $40,000 per annum,
so that the revenue from customs duties fell far short of satisfying the
purpose for which it was imposed.
Tonnage Duties.
Tonnage duties were imposed as early as 1690, and continued until Rhode
Island entered the union. They were first levied for the support of the
fort and were payable in either money or powder. About the middle of the
eighteenth century a light house was built and additional tonnage duties
were imposed for its support. The amounts varied from time to time,
according to the needs of the fort or light house, and there was
discrimination in favor of vessels engaged in home trade. In 1767, a
time of peace, the duty imposed for the support of the fort was 2 S., or
1 lb. of powder per ton for all vessels above ten tons, not owned by
inhabitants of the colony. The "light money" was 4 1/2d. per ton for
foreign vessels and 3s. for each clearing for coasters.
Notes.
Footnote 1:
Gneist, Hist. of the Eng. Const., Vol. 1, p. 34.
Footnote 2:
Wilson, The National Budget, p. 10:
In the year ending March 31, 1886, the net receipts from domains,
forests, &c., were only £380,000, out of a total revenue of over
£89,000,000, but it is interesting to notice that even now by the
_ordinary revenue_ is understood "the old hereditary property of the
king, the original property of the state, which belongs to the king
independently of any vote of Parliament," while by _extraordinary
revenue_ is understood "the income derived from direct taxation,
customs, and excises granted by vote of Parliament," Gneist, Hist.
Eng. Const. II, 346-7.
Footnote 3:
Wilson p. 7:
The earliest taxation was on land only. Taxation of personal property
was introduced by the Saladin Tithe in 1188. It was the introduction
of a poll tax which led to the Wat Tyler rebellion of 1381. The first
permanent tax was the hearth money tax imposed in 1663. Much the
greater part of the taxes are now permanent.
Footnote 4:
In early times the fines were apportioned among those whose neglect
had caused the fine i.e. the freeholders with freeholdings, including
houses and profitable rights, as the basis of assessment. (Gneist,
Hist. Eng. Const. I, 375, 376.) The system now becomes the household
(whether freehold or not) "according to the scale of the visible
profitable property in the parish." (Ib. II, 212.) The act itself
reads that the overseers of the poor shall have power to raise the
necessary funds "by Taxation of every inhabitant, Parson, Vicar and
other, and of every occupier of Lands, Houses, Tithes impropriate,
Propriations of Tithes, Coal Mines or saleable Underwoods in the said
Parish, in such competent Sum and Sums of Money as they shall think
fit."
Footnote 5:
No tax was ever levied in support of religion. The colony as a whole
seems to have neglected education. In 1640, however, Robert Lenthall,
school teacher and minister, was granted 104 acres of land by Newport,
and 100 acres was appropriated for a school "for encouragement of the
poorer sort." Arnold's Hist. of R.I., Vol. 1, p. 145. Providence also
later made some provisions for education.
Footnote 6:
Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick, founded between 1636 and
1642, were perfectly independent with full powers of self government
until united under what is known as the _Patent_ in 1647. This
independent character of the towns is brought out in W. E. Foster's
_Town Government in Rhode Island_--John Hopkins University Studies,
Fourth Series.
Footnote 7:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 27-31.
Footnote 8:
Among the entries under the first day of which we have record is an
order for the appointment of a treasurer for the "expending of the
Towne's stock." (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 13) Some months later it is
provided that any one more than a quarter of an hour late at a town
meeting shall be fined 1s. 6d. (ib. p. 15) An entry under the second
year shows that payments had been made for lands received by new
comers, and like payments are ordered to be made by future comers, but
the amounts are illegible. (Staples' Annals of Prov., p. 23) In 1661,
Roger Williams in speaking of the year 1638, says it was agreed that
every person admitted to "injoying landes" should pay 30s. to the
common stock (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 23) And in the articles of government
in 1640, it is provided that every one received as a townsman shall
make the same payment (ib. 30) The same provision is included in the
plan for a new settlement proposed by Roger Williams (ib. 40)
Footnote 9:
At Portsmouth the charge was 2s. per acre (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 56)
Footnote 10:
In 1638, a fence was ordered to be built "the charge to be borne
proportionally to every mans allottment." (repealed). In the same year
two treasurers are chosen; it is ordered that the highways be repaired
and that a prison be built both to be paid for out of the treasury. A
land subsidy for building a mill is granted and in 1643 a town watch
is ordered to be kept every night, also to be paid for out of the
treasury. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 53, 57, 58, 59, 78.) Still more
interesting is the appointment of four men for the venison trade with
the indians. These "truck masters" are forbidden to give more than
three half pence a pound, "a farthing for each pound being allowed to
the treasury" (Ib. 63) Every inhabitant was ordered to be provided
with one musket, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, two fademes of
match, sword, rest and bandeliers, (Ib. 54) On another occasion every
man was ordered to have by him four pounds of shot and two pounds of
powder. (Ib. 77)
Footnote 11:
The treasurer was directed to pay to the secretary for service done
£19 and 10 acres of land, and to the sergeant £6. In another instance
he is ordered to make a payment of £57 2s. 4d. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 90,
95) There is no evidence of the payment of the judge and elders, who
were both executive and judicial officers.
Footnote 12:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 87: This is the first statement (if we except the
payment according to allotments ordered at Portsmouth, which was
repealed. See above Note 10.) which we find of a principle that could
serve as a basis of taxation. Another entry which might point either
to payments for lands or taxes is "It is ordered that such as shall
bring in their acquittances from the Treasury to the Judge and Elders
shall have their Lands recorded." (ib. p. 99). That payments for land
were required would seem clear from an order of the General Court of
the inhabitants of Portsmouth and Newport, after the union of the two
towns, directing the "Treasurer to make demands for all such monies as
are due to the Treasurers for the Lands assigned forth to particular
men." (ib. 103)
Footnote 13:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 122: The order directs "that the three shillings a
day allowance be taken off from the Officers." The "Officers" might
imply that all offices were paid, but there has been no mention of
payment except to the secretary and sergeant. It is not unlikely that
the magistrates received fees in their judicial capacity.
Footnote 14:
A committee appointed to examine and balance the accounts of the
treasurers reported that £111, 3s. 4d. was due from the treasury of
Newport. The frequent examinations of accounts which are ordered also
show that financial matters are increasing in importance.
Footnote 15:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 125.
Footnote 16:
This interruption was caused by William Coddington, a citizen of
Newport, who obtained from the Council of State in England a grant to
govern the islands of Rhode Island and Conanicut, with a council of
six men named by the people and approved by himself. The grant was
repealed in Oct. 1652, but mutual jealousies kept the towns apart till
the date given.
Footnote 17:
Government under the Patent was marked by extreme decentralization. At
first all legislative powers remained with the freemen of the towns;
the committee could merely propose measures and declare the decisions
reached by the freemen. The committee, however, tended to become the
legislative body and was regularly established as such on the
resumption of the government in 1654. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 276 et seq.)
Footnote 18:
No solicitor was elected after 1684.
Footnote 19:
This continued until 1747. Arnold Hist. of R.I. II, 157.
Footnote 20:
There are several instances of laws imposing fines of from £1 to £10
for refusal to bear office. A man could not be compelled however to
bear office for several years in succession. In 1659, an assistant who
had been elected several times was excused from further service, and a
law of 1665, imposing a fine of £5 on constables for refusal to serve,
provided that the same man should not be elected more than once in
three years. By act of 1672, no man need serve as a deputy for two
courts in succession. More than this, a town law, "declared all the
inhabitants, though not admitted freemen, liable to be elected to
office," (Staples Annals of Prov. p. 118) By act of Assembly in 1670,
any person judged capable of holding public office might be elected a
freeman whether he desired it or not. (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 357).
Footnote 21:
The only legislative officers under the Patent who received any pay
were the commissioners from the towns, who were allowed 3s. a day
payable by the towns, with a double fine for absence (R.I. Col. Recs.
I, 307). No salaries appear to have been paid under the charter for
the first few years. In 1666, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 167) 3s. a day was
granted to all who served in the general assembly or colony court of
trials (except such as had stated fees), payable in the former case by
bills receivable for taxes in the town of the holder and in the latter
case out of the general treasury. The fine for non-attendance was
double the pay. In April, 1672, these salaries were increased, but the
increase was repealed the next month, and in November deputies wages
were fixed at 2s. a day, payable by the town, with a fine of £1 for
non-appearance at the assembly or £2 in case there was no quorum, for
an assistant in the latter case the fine was £5. (R.I. Col. Recs. II,
443, 456, 473) By acts of 1664 and 1666, a like fine had been imposed
on magistrates absent from the court of trials in case of no quorum.
By act of 1680, (R.I. Col. Recs. III, 87) magistrates and deputies
were to be paid out of the general treasury at the rate of 7s. a week.
Perhaps this was a substitute for the act of 1679. This comprises all
the legislation in the records on the subject. There seems to be some
doubt as to the extent of the action of these laws. Arnold (Vol. I,
532) says "Salaries had occasionally been paid to the civil officers,
but most of the time public service had been performed gratuitously."
In any case the imposition of fines for non-attendance must have gone
far to make the system self supporting.
Footnote 22:
The sergeant in particular was a considerable source of expense.
Several times as late as 1664, we find taxes of from £5 to £25 levied
for the payment of his bills, and an act of 1673, recites that the
inhabitants have been "greatly oppressed and grieved" by the
sergeant's "great wages" and that henceforth he shall receive but 3s.
a day for attendance in the general assembly, and simply his fees at
the court of trials, instead of "great fees at the Court of Tryalls,
and four shillings a day, alsoe" as heretofore.
Footnote 23:
A law of 1670, (R.I. Col. Recs. II, 361) provides that for rates
formerly or now ordered the treasurer shall have one shilling in the
pound for all he receives in provisions, but nothing for what he shall
receive in money or for any fines now due the colony, "and what charge
he shall be at he shall be allowed for that besides." In 1671, (ib.
385) it is ordered that for all (in money or other pay) that the
treasurer has received during the last, or shall receive during the
coming, year he shall be allowed twelve pence on the pound. An audit
of 1681, speaks of the treasurer's commissions as 5%. An audit of the
accounts of the treasurer under Andros show that the commission was
10%, and this rate seems to have been continued after the
reestablishment of the colonial government. In the case of the tax
levied in 1679, the towns are ordered to pay the treasurer's salary in
addition to the tax, but as a rule his commission seems to have been
deducted from the receipts.
Footnote 24:
Later the colony, in some instances, made grants to meet the expenses
of certain of the roads and bridges of more than local importance.
Footnote 25:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 222.
Footnote 26:
Ib. 288.
Footnote 27:
This is shown often in the wording of the laws; for example, in the
salary law of 1666. (see p. 97 Note 21) the treasurer is ordered to
make payment "out of those monies which either by fine, forfeiture or
otherwise, are brought into the Treasury," and in the act granting
diet and lodging in 1679, (see ib.) the expense is to be met out of
"the fines and forfeitures due to the Collony." Taxes are not
specified as a source of revenue. The audit reports entered in the
colony account book show the same thing. The decentralization which
marked the government under the Patent is seen in the order "that the
Publick Treasurer shall only receive such fines, forfeitures,
amercements and taxes, as fall upon such as are not within the
liberties" of the four towns. (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 197). An act of 1656
(Ib. 334) provides that all "fines that are committed about ye
Generall Courts, as of juriemen, &c., shall all returne and belong to
ye Generall Treasurie." And in general it was the fines imposed in the
colony courts that were the most fruitful sources of revenue.
Footnote 28:
R.I. Col. Recs. I, 223: The towns of Providence and Warwick were to
have each one barrel of powder, five hundred pounds of lead, six
pikes, and six muskets. Portsmouth was to have two barrels of powder,
one thousand weight of lead, twelve pikes, and eighteen muskets;
Newport, three barrels of powder, one thousand weight of lead, twelve
pikes, and twenty-four muskets.
Footnote 29:
A tax of £24 was levied for this purpose in November, 1658, and in the
following May another of £50 (R.I. Col. Recs. I, 395, 416). It is not
quite clear whether or not the second was meant to include the first.
Footnote 30:
Three years later the order had not been complied with. Newport
however had a prison under way. This was adopted as the prison of the
colony and the other towns were ordered to contribute to the cost. The
portion of the law ordering cages to be built was repealed.
Footnote 31: