This latter theorem of taxation which is displayed on the banners of
woman suffrage is, I suppose, deliberately and intentionally a
_suggestio falsi_. For only that taxation is tyrannous which is
diverted to objects which are not useful to the contributors. And even
the suffragist does not suggest that the taxes which are levied on
women are differentially applied to the uses of men.

Putting, then, this form of argument out of sight, let us come to
close quarters with the question whether the payment of taxes gives a
title to control the finances of the State.

Now, if it really did so without any regard to the status of the
claimant, not only women, but also foreigners residing in, or holding
property in, England, and with these lunatics and miners with
property, and let me, for the sake of a pleasanter collocation of
ideas, hastily add peers of the realm, who have now no control over
public finance, ought to receive the parliamentary franchise. And in
like manner if the payment of a tax, without consideration of its
amount, were to give a title to a vote, every one who bought an
article which had paid a duty would be entitled to a vote in his own,
or in a foreign, country according as that duty has been paid at home
or abroad.

In reality the moral and logical nexus between the payment of taxes
and the control of the public revenue is that the solvent and
selfsupporting citizens, and only these, are entitled to direct its
financial policy.

If I have not received, or if I have refunded, any direct