§ On going into a committee upon this bill,
Lord Hollandinveighed against the principle of this bill in the severest terms. It went to oppress those who were already labouring under circumstances of distress and difficulty, by increasing the duties on deeds of conveyance, which besides must fall with peculiar hardship on the proprietors of land. The bill would also severely affect attorneys, and he should never approve of any principle of taxation that tended to press with peculiar weight on any particular class of the community.
§ Lord Hawkesburyobserved, that under the urgent exigencies of the present moment, it was necessary to have recourse to every possible source of revenue. The principle of the present bill had long been acknowledged and acted upon by parliament, and the increase of the duties in the present instance was only a further extension of that principle. That principle did not bear harder on the landed than on the commercial interest; on the contrary, it must weigh heavier on the latter than on the former, as transfers of property were more frequent among commercial men than among landed proprietors. It moreover would operate equally on the buyer and the seller.
Lords Rosslynand Lauderdale contended, on the contrary, that the hardships of the increased duty would fall almost entirely on the seller, who, from urgent circumstances was compelled to transfer his properly. Indeed, the principle of the bill was in every respect iniquitous and unjust.—After a few words from lord Hawkesbury, the house resolved itself into a committee, en the bill; after which, the report was received, and the bill was ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.