The parsons case under the present land-tax recommended in a letter to a member of the House of Commons Hooper, George, 1640-1727. 1689 Approx. 14 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2011-04 (EEBO-TCP Phase 2). A44413 Wing H2704 ESTC R4404 13469900 ocm 13469900 99673

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 Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 2, no. A44413) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 99673) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 790:15) The parsons case under the present land-tax recommended in a letter to a member of the House of Commons Hooper, George, 1640-1727. [2], 6 p. [s.n.], London : 1689. Written by George Hooper. Cf. BM. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library.

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 eng Real property tax -- England -- Early works to 1800. Real property tax -- Early works to 1800. Church lands -- England -- Early works to 1800. Church lands -- Early works to 1800. 2020-09-21 Content of 'availability' element changed when EEBO Phase 2 texts came into the public domain 2008-12 Assigned for keying and markup 2009-01 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2009-04 Sampled and proofread 2009-04 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-09 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion

THE PARSONS CASE UNDER THE Preſent Land-Tax, Recommended in A LETTER To a Member of the Houſe of Commons.

London, Printed in the Year 1689.
The Parſon's Caſe under the Preſent Land-Tax, recommended in a Letter to a Member of the Houſe of Commons.

IN our laſt Converſation, you may remember, the Diſcourſe happened at length upon a mention of the Inequality, I ſuppoſed, the Parochial Clergy ſuffered under the preſent Land-Tax. This conſideration, you were pleaſed to ſay, was new to you; and which you would not be unwilling to ſee in its True State.

This then I take to be the Caſe.

I. Parſonages or Vicariges with Cure, though equally Freehold by Law, are in this to be diſtinguiſhed from Impropriations; that they have, by the Tenure, an Office annexed to them. Which Office is ſo ſacred, and has been by our Law ſo much regarded, that the Tenure was therefore erected free from all other Services, and Temporal Incumbrances whatſoever.

II. This Office, though it be not allowed ſtill to Priviledge its whole Revenue; yet continues to require a certain Expence, for the Neceſſary Support and Maintenance of the Perſon officiating, without which it cannot be executed. He is to be allowed Meat, and Drink, and Cloths, for himſelf; if not for a Family. Now this Allowance is, I conceive, to be reckoned by any Chriſtian Kingdom, and particularly by the Courſe of Ours, to the Account of the Office, and not of the Perſon: And he is not to be preſumed, to have any thing to ſpare for other Publick Charges, out of that, which is but juſt neceſſary to the Execution of his own. This ſeems reaſonable of it ſelf, but will appear more equitable yet, by that which follows. For,

III. The ſame conſideration, which is here deſired for the Country Miniſtry, is already given to all their Neighbourhood. An Eſtate let to a Farmer, pays only for the Rent; that is, for the Revenue remaining after the Deduction, not only of the Maintenance of the Farmer and his Family, but of the competent Gain, allowed him for his Pains towards future Proviſion. And ſo an Eſtate in the hands of a Yeoman Proprietor, firſt bears the Charge of the Occupancy, and affords ſome accruing Profit beſides for Labor and Induſtry; and then afterwards is taxed for the Reſidue. An Eſtate too in the hands of a Gentleman Owner, muſt be judged to bring in the ſame Advantage, if the ſame Diligence and Application be uſed.

IV. If then all Occupants of Land, whether Renters or Owners, are in conſideration of the common good ſo much regarded by the Publick, as to have allowed them, not only their Competence of Livelyhood, but a further Encouragement for the Sweat of their Brows, before they come to be aſſeſſed to other Uſes: It cannot but be reaſonable, that the Miniſter of the Pariſh, who is in the mean time joyntly imployed, on a Duty as neceſſary certainly, and as much to be incouraged by the Publick, ſhould likewiſe have the ſame equitable Favor ſhewed him, at leaſt the ſame neceſſary Allowance made. And this you know is nothing more, than what St. Paul directs from the Benignity of the Jewiſh Law, 1 Corinth. 9. ch. which ſuffered not the Mouth of the Ox to be muzled that trod the Corn: that, as other Husbandmen have not the Bread which is to feed them, excis'd out of their Mouths; ſo the Sowers of Spirituals, and the Labourers in the Goſpel, ſhould live alike free of the Goſpel, and not be refuſed the common Priviledge: Or, that as Soldiers go not to War at their own Charge; ſo the neceſſary Wages of the Miniſters ſhould not go to the Soldiers Pay.

V. Theſe things being premiſed, the Exceptions you mentioned will have no place. The firſt, as I remember, was, that if the Miniſter will take his Living into his hands, he may have his priviledged Gain too. The ſecond, that however he is but in the Caſe of a Gentleman who lives upon his Rents.

As to the firſt, I ſhall not ſtand upon a difference, all Impropriators know; that a Tenant is not as profitably imployed for a yearly Maintenance, upon the Tithes of a Hundred Pound, as he is upon a quarter of the Land: But only intreat you to conſider, that I am not craving an Allowance to him for ſuch kind of Pains; there is another ſort of Care, you expect from him; and this farmerly Induſtry, I preſume, you would rather diſcourage. Beſides a Scholar, and Bookiſh man, will rather loſe this way, than get: For if Gentlemen make not their Rent by their own Management, a Miniſter hardly will.

As to the ſecond, you will be pleaſed to remember that the Parſons are in the condition of the Husbandman, and not of the Landlord. For they are Aſcripti Glebae; and fixed down, together with the Countryman, to a continual Attendance upon their Function. They are not at their Liberty, as thoſe Others are, who either enjoying their Eaſe at their own Choice, cannot therefore impute it to the Publick; or who being at large, may beſtow their Time and Labour in what other gainful Place or Profeſſion they ſhall think fit, without any contrary Obligation from the Revenue they receive. Whereas the Parſon is not only tyed to reſide, by himſelf or ſome other; but is beſides debarred, 21 Henr. 8. c. 13. by the Temporal Law as well as the Eccleſiaſtical, from bettering his Livelyhood by any other Lucrative Imploy.

Beſides theſe Objections, there is another I have ſince met with, it is this; That Temporal Offices and Places are allowed no Deduction by this Act, and therefore the Spiritual cannot expect it.

This Objection, I believe, you did not propoſe, becauſe our Compariſon lay between a Parſon and an Impropriator, or between him and his own Country Pariſhioner; and for this reaſon I am not concerned in it. However a great difference might be taken, from what has been already laid down, between theſe two Officers, if they will ſo term them, the Spiritual and the Temporal. For (1) the Tenure of the Parſon is not the ſame; being a Freehold, and in its own nature exempt. (2) His Office is ſacred, and the Service of God: and therefore as much to be priviledged, at leſt in what ſhall be neceſſary to it, as the Military ſervice by Land or Sea. And (3) the Parſons are not in the ſame Condition; for the Civil Officer may, if he pleaſes, acting by a Deputy betake himſelf concurrently to any other Calling: But the Miniſter has not his Election, ſo much as to quit his Function; and is prohibited from any other Vocation, ſhould he be willing upon any Hardſhip to reſign his Benefice. There are more differences might be alledged, why the ſpiritual Cures ſhould have a Deduction for the Execution; though the Civil Offices were ſo very ſeverely uſed, as to be brought into all Publick Payments, without the ſame reaſonable Defalcation. But I may rather ſuppoſe that ſuch Offices, if denyed by theſe later Acts the Allowance of Deduction (an Allowance expreſly granted them in that of Car. Ann. 22, 23. 2. out of which theſe are copyed;) are therefore denied it, becauſe it was not thought unreaſonable, that thoſe Places ſhould upon ſome extraordinary Occaſion pay for the whole, which are known at other times wholly to eſcape all ordinary Charges, to all which in a manner (over and above Firſt Fruits and Tenths) the Clergy are conſtantly ſubjected. And I do too preſume, if ſuch Taxes are repeated, and the Civil Officers find not the favour to be relieved, either by expreſs Subſtraction, or by the equivalent of a Low Eſtimate; that then, as I now plead for the Parſons, there will ariſe ſome one that ſhall plead for them, on good it may be, but not on equal grounds.

VI. From all this I think I may infer, That the Parſon has good reaſon to deſire, that deduction ſhould be made for his Cure, and that the remainder only ſhould be charged to the Land-Tax. Now this Deduction cannot be leſs, as we have ſeen, than what ſhall be adjudg'd ſufficient for the maintenance of his own Perſon, if not his Family too; and here regard ſhould be had to his Education, and Character; and the charge not only of Food and Rayment, but of Books, Charity, &c. ought to come into the computation. But, that I may not ſeem unreaſonable in his behalf, I will Tax the competence by common Practice, and by the Expectatiof the Country, and ſhall demand no more for the Parſon, ••• n the Neighborhood, in caſe of his neceſſary abſence, world think fit to be allowed to a Curate. This aſſignment I ſhall reckon to be generally about Forty pound a year: And you, I am ſure, would not take it well of your Rector, ſhould he not, in that Caſe, make a more liberal Allowance.

VII. And now Sir, the Inequality I ſpoke of appears: For in your Rectors Caſe, whoſe Parſonage is valued at 160 l. per an. ſuppoſing that his and his neighbors Eſtates are equally valued, (which you know they are not always;) yet, if he be rated without an Allocation for his Cure, He pays then a fourth part more, then ought in ſtrict and fair proportion to be charged upon him; that is, inſtead of every Ten ſhillings, he pays a Mark. But his Neighbor, whoſe Vicarige is reckon'd at 120 l. is by the ſame ſuppoſition overcharg'd a Third, and muſt give his Fifteen ſhillings, for his Pariſhioners Ten. And were his Living worth but 80 l. at the ſame way of rateing, he would be Aſſeſs'd too much by one half. This is the ſtate of the Caſe, as to particular Benefices; and conſequently if you compute all the Cures of England to be worth 120 l. per an. one with another, (which is an eſtimate much too high;) the Incumbent Clergy, taken together, are by the premiſes Overrated a Third part, in the common courſe of Taxing.

This, SIR, is the Inequality, I undertook to lay before you; a task, I think I have made good; and now you may be pleas'd to undertake your part, and to become an Advocate in the Houſe for ſo Equitable a Cauſe. The Clergy, you know, when ever heretofore they Contributed to the Temporal Charge, in aſſiſtance of the Military Tenants, contributed at their own Diſcretion, and were rated by ſome of their own Body. Of late, ſince the diſcharge of the Military Tenure, they have been brought in to bear the Burden, thereby increas'd, in common, and are Aſſeſs'd too at the pleaſure of your Houſe: And as I hope, they will always be found in the true Intereſt of the Nation; ſo, as far as I hear, they are well pleas'd to be reckon'd with it, even in Payments. But then, becauſe they are known to have no particular Repreſentatives among you, and are incapable of being Repreſentatives themſelves: The charge of them, ſeems to be as of ſo many Minors; and the Truſt to lie upon the Honor of your Houſe. Now upon the experience they have had in many places below, they think they have cauſe to deſire, that being they themſelves are not thought fit to be Commiſſioners or Aſſeſſors, You above would be pleas'd to take them into your particular Care, at leaſt expreſs your Pleaſure concerning them ſo plainly, that it may not be differently underſtood, by the Hopes of one, and the Determinations of others; as it has been about the Quality of Curates in the Poll Tax, and about allowance for Reparations, &c. lately. And when you do declare your Pleaſure for the future, it is to be hoped, that you will take the Equity of this Paper into your Conſideration. For tho' the Miniſters may be very willing to take their ſhare of the Publick Burthens, and very Averſe from being found at this Time with any Complaint: Yet the Difference of a Quarter, or Third, (not to ſay of a Half,) is ſo conſiderable in moſt of their circumſtances; that they cannot be long inſenſible of the Inequality. If indeed this Inequality was as conſiderable to the Publick, as to them, they might then remain under it with ſome, ſatisfaction: But reckoning at large all the Country Cures to be 10000 and the Deduction conſequently to be 20000 l. where the whole Tax may be ſuppoſed 800000 l. it is plain that the Layety ſave to themſelves by all this Diſparity but one in Forty, while the Clergy is overburdened by one in Three. This is all the gain of ſo exceſſive a diſproportion; but were it greater, yet I cannot but think it will be ſcorn'd by the Juſtice and Generoſity of that Great and Honorable Body; which has already, with a wiſe Liberality, expreſly provided for the Eaſe of thoſe places, in which men are Educated for the Miniſtry; and did not I preſume, intend leſs favour, to thoſe who are actually Laboring in the Charge. Nay, were there no pretence of Right, yet I cannot imagine, that the Noble Engliſh Nation would refuſe their Clergy ſo eaſie a Boon; while I conſider that the States of Holland themſelves, in all their Land and Perſonal Taxes, Aſſeſs not their Miniſtry a Penny, out of very competent Penſions, at the ſame time, when other Proprietors of the Country have paid already, before the year is out, Two thirds of their yearly Income.

FINIS.