Thus taxes should be laid directly on the net product of landed property…the form of assessment which is the most simple, the most regular, the most profitable to the state, and the least burdensome to tax-payers, is that which is made proportionate to the net product and laid directly on the source of continually regenerated wealth.
But the needs of the state and particular circumstances do not always harmonize with the views put forward concerning the reforms which good administration in political economy may require, even though these reforms are very necessary and very urgent from the point of view of the common benefit of the sovereign and the nation.