328 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



yield of the land tax was 1,021,705, and of the 

 house duty 1,462,373. The income and property 

 tax produced 15,649.362. Of the receipts from 

 sources other than taxation, 10,748,014 came from 

 the post office, 2,598,986 from the telegraph serv- 

 ice, 518,819 were the gross receipts from Crown 

 lands, 412,977 were the interest on Suez Canal 

 shares owned by the "Government, and 1,858,137 

 came from fee stamps, the civil departments, the 

 naval-defense fund, the Bank of England, etc. 



In the budget for 1897 the rate of Sd. in the 

 pound was continued for the income tax, though it 

 has not yet been definitely accepted by the proper- 

 tied class as a normal peace rate. Before the in- 

 come tax was first imposed in 1841 that class 

 paid 27 per cent, and the consumers 73 per cent, of 

 the national taxes. At the present time the sums 

 raised by indirect taxation constitute 52 percent, of 

 the tax revenue, while the direct taxes yield 48 per 

 cent, of the whole. The rate of income tax in 1895 

 and 1896 was 8d. in the pound, having been 7d. in 

 the previous year, and before that Qd. for five con- 

 secutive years, to which it was reduced from 7'/. in 

 1888 and 8d. in 1886 and 1887. The annual value 

 of property and profits assessed to income tax in 



1894 was 706,180,875, of which England's share 

 was 602,388.699, while 65,188.840 was the si in re 

 of Scotland and 38,553,886 that of Ireland. The 

 total value of assessable incomes has increased from 

 465,478,688 in 1871. The assessed income from 

 land has declined from 57,694,820 in 1891 to 56.- 

 212,734 in 1894, of which latter amount 40.(>(J5.S31 

 belonged to England, 6.251,898 to Scotland, and 

 9,895,005 to Ireland. The assessed income from 

 mines in 1894 was 12.321,709. of which England 

 produced 10,809,842, Scotland 1,500,313. and Ire- 

 land 11,554; the income from iron works was 

 1,832,308, of which 1.355.178 accrued in England 

 and 476,590 in Scotland. The assessed annual 

 profits of railways were 35.786.668. of which L'29.- 

 956,168 belonged to English, 4,297,961 to Scotch, 

 and 1,532,539 to Irish lines. The annual profits of 

 canals was assessed at 3.493.590: of gas works, 

 4,770,885; of quarries, 1,043,054; profits of wa- 

 terworks, salt springs, alum works, etc., 6,400,457. 



Various financial laws passed between 1888 and 



1895 surrendered to the local authorities a share in 

 various duties collected by the Imperial Govern- 

 ment viz., the duties on local taxation licenses, 

 half the probate duty paid on the property of per- 

 sons who died before Aug. 1, 1894, and a share of 

 the new estate duty amounting to 1^ per cent, of 

 the net value of the estates on which the tax is 

 levied, and the additional duties of Gd. per gallon 

 on spirits and 3d. per 36 gallons of beer. The pay- 

 ments made in the fiscal year 1895 were 7,013.542, 

 the additional beer and spirit duties making 1.321,- 

 541, licenses 3,538.942. and the local- share of pro- 

 bate and estate duties 2,153,059. The local taxa- 

 tion in England and Wales, exclusive of gas and 

 water rates, amounted in 1894 to 30,250,000, levied 

 on a ratable value of 160,000,000. The taxes had 

 increased 11,000,000 in eleven years. 



The expenditure under the three main heads in 

 1894-'95 was 26.642.421 for the consolidated fund 

 charges, 35,445.000 for the army and navy supply 

 services, and 31,831,000 for the civil and miscel- 

 laneous services. The service of the national debt 

 absorbed 25,000.000, made up of 16,069.869 inter- 

 est on the consolidated debt, 6,422,410 for termi- 

 nable annuities, 461,830 interest on the unfunded 

 debt, l- r ,0.675 for adjustments under the act of 

 1894, 176,953 for management of the debt, and 

 1,718,263 for the new sinking fund. The pay- 

 ments for other consolidated fund services, amount- 

 ing to 1,642,421, consisted of 407,774 for the civil 

 list, 316,758 for annuities and pensions, 81,618 



for salaries, etc., 514,633 for courts of justice, and 

 321,638 for annuities and miscellaneous charges. 

 The expenditure for the army was 17,900,000, of 

 which 3,036,000 were for pensions and retiring al- 

 lowances. The expenditure for the navy was 17,- 

 545,000. The civil services consumed 18,915,000, 

 the customs and inland revenue 2,646,000, the 

 post office 6,869,000, the telegraph service 2,674,- 

 000, and the packet service 727,000. 



The expenditure for the year ending March 31, 

 1897, was estimated at 100,047,000, or, including 

 the contributions in relief of local taxation, 111,- 

 357,000. The customs revenue was estimated at 

 21.020,000; excise, 27.000,000; estate duties, 

 10,950,000; stamps. 6.700.000; land tax, 1,000,- 

 000; house duty, 1,475,000 ; and property and in- 

 come tax, 16,200.000; making the total exchequer 

 receipts from taxation 84,345,000. The estimated 

 revenue from the post office was 11,600,000 ; from 

 the telegraph service, 2,940,000 ; from Crown 

 lands. 415,000; from Suez Canal shares, 695,000; 

 miscellaneous, 1,700,000; making the total for 

 nontax revenue 17.410.000 and the total receipts 

 of the exchequer 101.755.000. showing an expected 

 surplus of 1,708,000. 



The revenue paid into the exchequer for the year 

 ending March 31, 1896, was 101,974.000. an' in- 

 crease of 7,290.000 over the receipts of the previous 

 twelve months and an improvement of 5.812.000 on 

 the est imates. The general prosperity of the country 

 was shown in an increase of 641.000 in customs, 

 which yielded 20.756.000. and of 750,000 in excise 

 receipt's, which reached the total of 26,800,000, 

 nearly half the increase being due to the increased 

 demand for British spirits. Tobacco, tea, and wine 

 were the main sources of the increased receipts 

 from customs. In the postal and telegraph service 

 there was an increased net profit of 880.000. The 

 stamp duties, which are an index of commercial ac- 

 tivity, showed an increase of 1.629,000. In estate 

 duties there was an increase of 2,881,000, which is 

 to a great extent accounted for by the fact that the 

 full annual proceeds had been collected for the first 

 time. The collections for the year amounted to 

 11,600,000, besides 2.450,000 paid to the local 

 taxation account. Including 7,366,000 collected 

 and paid over to the local taxation accounts, the 

 total revenue was 109,340,000. 



The estimated expenditure for the year 1895-'96 

 was 96.246.000, inclusive of supplementary esti- 

 mates. The actual expenditure was 97,788,000, 

 the difference being attributable to the increased 

 armaments undertaken by the Government and 

 sanctioned subsequently by the naval works act, 

 which will swallow up also the surplus of 4,186,- 

 000 that otherwise would go into the sinking fund. 



The national debt is the legacy of wars. The 

 war to retain the American colonies increased the 

 annual charge from 4,500.000 to 9,500,000. and 

 the war with Prance from 1793 to 1815 added 23,- 

 000,000 to the annual interest charge. A consider- 

 able part of the capital was paid off during the 

 period of peace supervening, but it was increased 

 by new loans necessitated by the Crimean War, at 

 the close of which the annual expense of the debt 

 was 28.500.000. It still increased to nearly 30,- 

 000,000 in 1883, but since then has been decreased 

 to 25,000.000. which sum includes the provision 

 for the sinking fund, amounting in 1895 to 6,551,- 

 784. The capital on March 31, 1895, was stated to 

 be 660.998,941, made up as follows: Funded debt, 

 586.015,919: capitalized value of terminable an- 

 nuities, 53.582,722; unfunded debt, 17,400,300; 

 other liabilities, consisting of the Russian-Dutch 

 loan and loans under the imperial defense act of 

 1888, the barracks act of 1890, and the telegraph 

 act of 1892, 3,161,666. The assets offsetting the 



