On this day 250 years ago in London Edmund Burke delivered his famous speech “On American Taxation” in Parliament. To no avail, Burke urged Parliament to repeal the Townshend Act and the duties it imposed on tea. This speech included many memorable passages including:
Could anything be a subject of more just alarm to America, than to see you go out of the plain high road of finance, and give up your most certain revenues and your clearest interests, merely for the sake of insulting your Colonies? No man ever doubted that the commodity of Tea could bear an imposition of three-pence. But no commodity will bear three-pence, or will bear a penny, when the general feelings of men are irritated, and two millions of people are resolved not to pay.
Sources: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004902755.0001.000/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/01/brilliant-agony-edmund-burke-spring-
On This Day In The Revolution 
3 responses to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — April 19, 1774”
It is ironic how the concept of “taxation without representation” was once such a passionate issue that a war was fought and a Constitution written to prevent it. Now, in modern times, cities like Birmingham, Alabama can tax those living outside city limits, not having the right to vote on such a law, on the income they earn within the city.
They told me the law had been challenged in court and were ruled Constitutional. They told me the taxes helped pay for city services (such as roads) used by those working within the city. For centuries, cities, counties, and states have born the cost of such services. Their citizens benefit from increased retail sales, property rentals, and generally higher income while those outside their city subsidize city citizens services.
There are more just ways of collecting taxes for services than taxing one’s income but these ways are difficult to collect and not as lucrative.
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Hi Ron, I also think it ironic that the citizens of the capital of the nation founded on the principle of No Taxation Without Representation have to pay income taxes but are not allowed a voting Representative in Congress. I assume the theory behind requiring taxes of people who work in a city even though they live and vote elsewhere is that they use the city services (police, fire department, streets, water & sewer, etc.) and their town/county could likewise impose taxes on anyone who lives elsewhere but commutes to work there. But it doesn’t seem equitable or even plausible to allow people to vote twice in elections at both their home and workplace. That effectively gives commuters two votes in each election but those who work from their home jurisdiction only one.
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So true. We had an opposite issue here a couple years ago. Citizens outside the city limits were calling upon the city fire department whenever there was a home fire. The city notified the county that they would no longer be providing fire protection for those who didn’t pay city tax so the county built their own fire department.
This county is so small that one fire department would have been sufficient yet this duplication of services was needed to prevent the city from the burden of providing services without tax income support.
Such issues are always complex thus calling for complex solutions that often aren’t satisfactory to everyone.
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