It is a principle that taxes are deducted from revenues.

Frédéric Bastiat
Complete Works, Volume 7, pages 369 to 371 (in French)
November 9th, 1844

Volume 7 of the Complete Works ends with some extracts of the unpublished correspondance of Frédéric Bastiat. This first letter is addressed to Justin Laurence who had reacted to the publication of About the Distribution of Land Tax in the Landes by Frédéric Bastiat.

Today’s quote shows that, already then, Frédéric Bastiat was concerned about fiscal doctrine, which has now in France become the shadow of its former self, the objective being that financing must be found, wherever it comes from and without considering if it is legitimate or not. This translates notably by taxes on capital, implemented in the same way that we would implement taxes on milk by considering that they would be paid by the cows. Of course, individuals are the ones who share the burden of taxes (including taxes on companies). If the fiscal base is a stock (which can be convenient), it becomes even closer to theft than when the base is a flux.

Concerning the latter, there exist two sorts of taxes – based upon spending (as is VAT for instance) or based on revenues (as is income tax for instance). The first type is widely considered as unjust because the rich pay the same amount as the poor. The second type is often considered as the least bad because it is distributed according to the payment capacity of the taxpayer (when  income tax is progressive, it creates an injustice but it is also widely accepted, in particular by those who do not reach the higher rates of taxation. As an aside, it should be noted that in Hong Kong, there is a progressivity but it is limited – above a certain threshold, the tax is limited to a maximum rate of revenue). Today’s quote shows that Frédéric Bastiat, who was obsessed by justice, was an advocate of taxes on income, as low as possible in order for the government to face its inevitable spending.