Oh what wonders, what novels in this age there be,
And the man that lives longest the most he will see;
For fifty years back pray what man would have thought,
That a tax upon income would be brought.
Sing, tantara rara new tax.

We're engag'd in a war who can say but 'tis just,
That some thousands of Britons as laid in the dust,
And the nation of millions it's made shift to drain,
Yet to go on with vigour each nerve we will strain.
Sing, tantara rara will strain.

From the peer so down to the mechanical man,
They must all come beneath our minister's plan,
And curtail their expences to pay their share,
To preserve their great rights & their liberties dear.
Sing tantara rara how dear.

If you've not 60 l. you'll have nothing to pay,
That's an income too small to take any away,
But from that to a hundred does gradually rise,
All above, nothing less than the tenth will suffice,
Sing tantara rara one tenth.

This tax had produc'd what most wish to conceal,
The true state of their income few love to reveal,
What long faces it's caus'd, and of oaths not a few
Whilst papers they sign'd for to pay in their due.
Sing tantara rara long face.