SPIRITS 



REVENUE AND TAXATION 



consumption. Thiw out u( the uncontrolled (arming sprang the diseot OOOtrol of 

 tin- I'.rit irih Hyutfiii. The first atp taken wm the luniUti- 

 shops in the area farmed. Hence ran -.11 cystem. under which the 



Mi-lit to manufacture and aell at a specified chop was granted, g^ by neither of 

 these measures was any limitation fixed on the duty per gallon hmn it frtPftrrr 

 the interest of the producer to extend hi* transaction* by lowering the price *p4 

 iliiiH to encourage consumption. This led to the Central DietiDery system. fat 

 \\ Im-h tin- manufacture and storage are both under Government supervMton. nn4 

 n --till hrml duty had to be paid before issue from thw cellar*. But unfortunately 

 it IUIH not been found possible to enforce thui system all over India. 



Revenue. The revenue dcrivi-d from intoxic.it ing beverages appears Reyenue. 

 under "Customs" for imported liquors ami under " Kxcisc " for locally ' 

 I i . M luced. The excise revenue on liquors would seem to have ben steadily 

 increasing for some years past, due, it is presumed, to two chief cause* : 

 (a) the increasing prosperity of the lower classes and (6) the more com- 

 plete supervision of the Excise Administration. This result may be 

 exemplified thus in 1860-1, the Excise revenue on liquors came to 91 

 lakhs of rupees (= 606,700) ; in 1870-1, to 156 lakhs ; in 1880-1, to 212 

 lakhs ; in 1890-1 to 349 lakhs ; in 1900-1 to 427 lakhs ; and in 1902-3 

 to 486 lakhs of rupees (= 3,240,000). Taking the last year, the following 

 analysis exemplifies the relative importance of the chief lands : Revenue 

 from country spirits, 325 lakhs of rupees ; palm-juice, 111 lakhs ; grain 

 beer, 17 lakhs ; country rum, etc., 12 lakhs ; malt beer, 4 lakhs ; and 

 foreign liquors, 18 lakhs. Since then the revenue has continued to in- 

 crease till in 1905-6 it reached over 625 lakhs or 4,166,767, made up as 

 follows : foreign liquors, 378,724 ; country spirits, 2,914,067 ; toddy, 

 873,976 (Moral and Mat. Prog. Ind., 1905-6, 81). It is believed the 

 total revenue for 1906-7 came to 6,510,000, but the increase shown by 

 no means necessarily manifests expansion in consumption : to a much 

 larger extent it denotes more complete control. 



Incidence of Taxation. "The average incidence of taxation per Taxation. 

 proof gallon of distillery spirit amounted in 1902-3 to Rs. 4-6-5, of which 

 R S . 3-4_6 was derived from still-head duty, and Rs. 1-2-2 from vend fees. 

 Among the larger provinces, the average rate was highest in the Panjab 

 (Rs. 6-1-0) and in Burma (Rs. 6 plus vend fees), and lowest in the Central 

 Provinces (Rs. 3-8-4). The average consumption per thousand of the 

 population in distillery areas varied from 14 gallons in the Panjab and 

 10 (roughly) in Burma, to 127 gallons in the Bombay Presidency proper " 

 (Imp. Gaz. 1904, iv., 16). In the year 1900-1 the estimated consumption 

 in gallons, per thousand of population, in distillery tracts, was as 

 follows : in Bengal, 18 ; in the United Provinces, 30 ; in the Panjab, 1 1 ; 

 in Madras, 22; in Bombay, 112; in Sind, 46; in Burma, 10; in Coorg, 

 162 ; in Hyderabad Assigned Districts, 65 ; and in Ajmir-Merwara, 59. 



Materials Used. Except in the Madras Presidency, country spirits Materials. 

 (including the Panjab country rum) is the main source of the revenue from 

 intoxicating liquors. "It is usually prepared by distillation from the 

 mahua flower, molasses and other forms of unrefined sugar, fermented 

 palm-juice and rice the last mainly employed in Bengal, Assam and 

 Burma. Country spirit is prepared by Native methods in Bengal, Assam, 

 the United Provinces, the Central Provinces, Sind, the Frontier Province 

 and Baluchistan. The ingredients are generally fermented in pots and 

 then distilled in rudely constructed stills. The system is very crude and 

 the product apt to contain a considerable percentage of fusel oils. In 

 Madras, Bombay, the Panjab and Burma, manufacture of country spirit 



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