A BALLAD ON THE BUDGET.

Tune – “The Dog’s Meat Man.”

I Find it hard my rent to pay,
That’s due on every Quarter Day,
But then I did, with free consent,
Agree to take this tenement.
I know it was my act and deed;
But if a tenant comes to need,
He underlets, and off the packs;
But I can’t run away from my Income-Tax.

Sing oh, the heavy Income-Tax,
Unequal burden on our backs,
No greater do my profits wax!
But my rulers go on adding to my Income-Tax.

Before, if earnings chanced to fail,
I could reduce taxation’s scale
By eating and by drinking less,
Or by economy in dress;
But now that luxuries are cheap,
Small gain from abstinence I reap,
And am unable to relax
The stress of that inevitable Income-Tax.

Sing oh, &c.

When I can earn no more, ’tis true
My Income-Tax will then cease too;
But then, what will become of me?
A wretched pauper I shall be.
For I shall have no money left,
Of what I should have saved bereft,
Since all my thrift that impost sacks,
The villanous abominable Income-Tax.

Sing oh, &c.

Were I a wealthy Lord or Squire,
The Income-Tax I should admire,
For I should have no need to hoard,
And cheap good things could well afford.
Had I an ample income, sure
That ample income would endure,
I’d drink, in wines of choicest smacks,
Everlasting imposition to the Income-Tax!

Sing oh, &c.

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