PARODIES FOR POLITICANS.
I.
Air – “A Bumper of Burgundy.”
A Glass of cheap Burgundy, fill, fill for me;
Drink, you who can stand it, Champagne.
But whatever the price, wine expensive must be,
Whilst precarious incomes we gain.
And now, when forbidden for want to lay by,
A man’s saddest feelings distress him,
“Income-Tax on Hard Earnings for Ever!”
we’ll cry:
Mr. Gladstone’s good health – and bless him!
All you who are now closer still to be shorn,
Of all you should save in the year,
With an “ignorant patience” you’re told you have borne
Taxation unjust and severe.
Such patience denotes the long-suffering Ass;
‘Tis safe to defraud and oppress him;
Submissive, succumbing, then toss off the glass:
Mr. Gladstone’s good health – and bless him!
II.
Air – “Oh! Say not Woman’s Heart.”
Oh! say not Income’s Tax is fair,
A just and gentle measure,
A load which poor men do not bear,
That saddles men of treasure.
All’s one to those whose dividend,
Or rent, with wealth supply them,
If you tax what they have to spend,
Or tax what that will buy them.
Both high and low Taxation spares,
The class between to diddle,
That one its burden chiefly bears;
The workers in the middle:
Against old age and loss to guard,
It frustrates their endeavour
Whom Schedule D, unfair and hard,
Will grind – and grind for ever!
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