He wobbles like this for six weeks twice a year, and meanwhile his
family starves."
"Under our system of taxation," Peter retorted, "the innocent must
suffer."
"It falls alike on the just and the unjust," I interposed. "How else
would you have it?"
"Naturally I would have it fall on the unjust alone," he replied.
"Why not on the just alone?" I asked, suddenly aware of the birth of
an idea.
"Of course you want exemption."
"You miss my point. You grant that taxation is necessary?"
"For the sake of argument," said Peter, "I grant that, with
reservations."
"Since then there must be taxes, why not have taxes that it would be a
pleasure to pay? The current taxes are not a pleasure to pay."
"I grant that," said Peter, "without reservations."
"Now there is only one sort of tax that I can imagine anybody paying
gladly, and that would be a tax on his virtues."
"Still hankering after your own exemption," growled Peter.
"Leave me out of account. Take, by preference, yourself. You have
virtues and are proud of them."
Hilda intervened, as I had anticipated. "The pride is admitted," said
she, "but as for the assessment value of the virtues----"
"Never mind that. You are proud of your virtues"--I turned to Peter
again--"yet you are sometimes troubled, like the rest of us, by a fear
that you may not really possess them after all.
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