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the taxes, which would then give higher returns, whilst the pressure
upon individuals would be lessened. It behoves us therefore to
pass in review some of the items of taxation which form the revenue,
and with regard to which amendments have been suggested.
The cultivation of vines for the manufacture of wine has been
so heavily and unjustly taxed, that a great part of the vineyards
have of late years been turned to other and more profitable
purposes, or else have been abandoned, and consequently a branch
of agriculture for which the island is especially suited, and a
remunerative article of commerce, is neglected and allowed to
decline. An extensive development of vineyards and manufacture
of wine should be encouraged, and with this object it has been
suggested that it might be wise to free this production from all
except export duty.
Tobacco is undoubtedly a valuable culture, and might be made
of great profit to the State, but, according to the consular reports
quoted in Chapter VIII., the mistaken fiscal policy of the
authorities in raising the tax upon this article, until at last it
reached the exorbitant sum of six piastres per oke upon the most
inferior qualities, has caused the production to fall below a tenth
part of the consumption of the island, whereas not many years
ago more than a sufficiency for the wants of the population was
grown. To restore this culture to its former importance will
doubtless be the care of the new government, and an alteration in
the present burdensome tax will probably be the easiest solution of
the difficulty.
Allusion has already been made to the injurious effect of the
collection of the tithe upon cotton at the time when the crop is
gathered, instead of at the time of shipment, and it has been
explained how the former method prevents the farmers from
growing the best and most remunerative varieties of the plant; this
is a matter which requires the attention of the authorities when the
re-adjustment of the taxes is considered.
The salt fields of the island can, under judicious management,
be made infinitely more valuable, and the preceding chapters
indicate other methods in which the resources of Cyprus may be
developed, so that while some taxes might with advantage be
either lowered or remitted, the gain which will, accrue from a wise
and enlightened administration, will, even in a pecuniary sense,
infinitely exceed the possible diminutions of certain items of the
revenue.
An alteration will, for instance, have to be made in the
indemnity paid by the Christian population for exemption from
military service, for as under the present rule, both Christians and
Mussulmans will be exempted from service, the tax must either be
extended to the Mussulmans, or else abolished. The “ Verghi ” is
the personal tax levied upon all householders and bread-winners in
the island. Each village has to contribute a fixed amount,
according to the number of its tax-payers, and the villagers as a
whole are responsible for the sum, but the notables of the village
apportion the quantum of the tax to each man as they consider
just, and, as may be imagined, absolute justice is not always meted