90 



The Count})/ Goitletnans Alagacine 



of the city of London not accounted for in 

 the official returns may be taken. According 

 to Mr Goschen's report on " local taxation," 

 these City tolls, dues, fees, and rents amoun- 

 ted, in 1868, to ^^250, 000, or thereabouts. 

 The extraordinary receipts from City property 

 (sales, &c.) amounted to ^^3 18,000. It is on 

 public grounds desirable that the Corpora- 

 tion's yearly accounts be printed with the 

 other local tax statistics. Surely this would 

 be easy in future. These statistics should 

 be the means of correcting some of the ex- 

 aggerated statements about the amount of 

 local taxation raised in England. On sum- 

 marizing the three sections of the table we 

 find that ;^i 7,996,5 14 falls upon rateable 

 property, subject to a qualification mentioned 

 furtheron; ;;^3, 079,987 on the trafficof persons 

 and things ; and ;^i98,i97 is, in fact, an oc- 

 troi duty levied on the consumable articles, 

 coals and wine. Figures much beyond the 

 aggregate of these three sums have been 

 quoted in Parliament and elsewhere as repre- 

 senting the annual pressure of the local im- 

 posts of England. In the debate upon Sir 

 Massey Lopes' motion it was asserted by Sir 

 Massey that the amount raised by local tax- 

 ation in England was ;,^3o, 000,000. But we 

 now see by this the highest authentic sum of 

 local taxes ever pubhshed, that the truth is 

 very nearly ^^9, 000, 000 below the assertion. 

 All that is taken out of die local taxpayer's 

 pocket during the year is shewn by the first 

 column in the table above. The second 

 column represents sums raised as loans, con- 

 tributions in aid from Her Majesty's Treasury, 

 and sources other than rates or taxes — such 

 as rents of corporation property, the sale of 

 old materials, &c. Loans are clearly antici- 

 pations of future taxation, as rents and sale- 

 able materials are representative of past 

 taxation. Payments by the Exchequer are 

 defrayed by the taxpayers of the kingdom 

 generally. 



Restricting the figures to that portion of 

 the local taxation which is borne by the 

 rateable or real property of the country, it is 

 found to be something over ^17,000,000. 

 The total of this section is, indeed, as before 

 shewn, i^i7, 996,514; but this, it is stated, 



includes a sum \n the municipal borough re- 

 turns of ^632,206 raised from rents, tolls, 

 and dues, and therefore to be left out of ac- 

 count when it is a question of pressure upon 

 rateable property. In a round sum, there- 

 fore, the aggregate levied upon real property 

 was ^17,370,000, and no more. Though 

 our present figures prove the local taxation of 

 England to be so much under the amount 

 stated by some persons, the rate of its 

 growth is decided. In Mr Ward Hunt's 

 return of the local taxation of rateable pro- 

 perty in 1868, the total was ;;^i6, 729,000 j 

 hence, in two years there has been an increase 

 of ;z^'64i,ooo, or 4 per cent. (The comparison 

 is made upon ;^t 7,3 70,000 ; borough tolls, 

 dues, and rents were not included m 1868). 

 About ^500,000 of this is due to the increase 

 of the Poor's-rate alone. The rateable pro- 

 perty in 1868 was ^^{^ 100, 6 2 7, 000, the ave- 

 rage rate in the ^ was 3s. 4d. On comput- 

 ing the proportion borne by rural unions 

 with the amount borne by town unions, it 

 was found the former paid 2s. 9j^i(d. and the 

 latter 4s. in the jQ. In 1870, the rateable 

 property had increased as well as the rates, 

 and in the same ratio nearly. The rateable 

 value of that year was ^104,420,000, the 

 rate in the ;£ it had to bear was also 3s. 4d. 

 The returns of 1870 make no distinction 

 between town and country, but there is 

 reason to suppose the proportionate burdens 

 have not changed in any material degree. 



The receipts, in addition to the taxes of 

 this first section, amounted to ^5,891,000 ; 

 between _£2,ooo,ooo and _j/^3,ooo,ooo of this 

 was raised by loan on the security of the 

 rates ; and ;^878,ooo (exclusive of payments 

 for Fire Brigade and for auditors) came from 

 payments in aid from the Imperial Exchequer. 



Loans raised for Poor's-rate and County- 

 rate purposes during the year are not stated 

 in the Blue Book. Those relating to this sec- 

 tion which are recorded amounted to 

 ^2,314,000; that is — to aid borough rates, 

 ;^728,302 ; metropolitan local management 

 rates, ^162,650; town improvement rates, 

 ^417,722; local board rates, ^1,003,188 ; 

 and sewers rates, ^2600. The loans raised 

 in aid of tolls and dues are stated for the year 



