REVENUE. 



excise duties, and derived some profit 

 from the establishment of the post-office, 

 both of which have been since improved 

 into very productive sources of revenue. 

 At the period of the revolution, most 

 of the ancient branches of the King's re- 

 venue had either been formally relin- 

 quished, or had greatly declined in their 

 produce, and the parliamentary grants 



had for some years past consisted almost 

 entirely of custom and excise duties, with 

 occasional poll-taxes and hearth-money. 

 The total amount of the several brunches 

 of which the public revenue then consist- 

 ed, will appear by the following state- 

 ment, which was formed upon the aver- 

 age produce of four years. 



Amount of the Public Revenue in 1688. 



L. s. 



Subsidy of tonnage and poundage ........ 577,507 .. 12 .. 



Hereditary and temporary excise ........ 610,486 .. 10 .. 



Hearth-money, about .............. 200,000 .. .. 



Post Office, about ................ 55,000 .. .. 



Duties on wines and vinegar ........... 172,900 .. 11 .. 



Duties on tobacco and sugar ........... 148,861 .. 8 .. 



Duties on French linens, brandies, Sec ...... 93,710 .. 8 .. 



Wine licences, seizures, &c 



56,969 .. 4 



Total 



L 1,915,435 ,. 15 



This was the whole of the public reve- 

 nue, except the small duties of ten shil- 

 lings per ton on wine, &c. first granted in 

 1666, and appropriated for defraying the 

 expenses of coinage ; and a duty of eigh- 

 teen pence per chaldron on coals, appro- 

 priated for completing St. Paul's Church. 

 This revenue, small as it now appears, 

 must have been at least fully adequate to 

 all the national expenses, if an account 

 laid before the Parliament is to be de- 

 pended upon, according to which the an- 

 nual expenditure of James II. amounted, 

 at a medium, to only 1,609,365/. 2s. 9d. 



The heavy expenses incurred during 

 the reign of William III. and the intro- 

 duction of the funding system, caused a 

 variety of new taxes to be imposed, and 

 considerable additions to be made to 

 those which previously existed. The 

 hearth-tax was abolished, and the land- 

 tax was levied by a new assessment, 

 which has continued ever since. The 

 malt-tax, the tax on hawkers and ped- 

 lars, on hackney-coaches, with many 

 other new taxes, were introduced, which, 

 with the augmentation of the customs 

 and excise, raised the total amount of 

 the public revenue, at the death of King 

 William, to about double its amount at 

 his accession. During the succeeding 

 reigns, an almost infinite number of taxes 

 have been imposed, in order to render 

 the revenue adequate to the payment of 

 the interest on the great accumulation 

 of public debt, and to support a constant- 

 ly increasing expenditure. The produce 



of different duties formerly constituted 

 separate funds, appropriated to specific 

 purposes; thus the several taxes which 

 were rendered perpetual by 3 George I. 

 c. 7, formed a fund called the general 

 fund, distinct from the aggregate fund, 

 and South Sea fund, before established ; 

 but, of late years, the whole produce of 

 all the branches of the public revenue has 

 been brought into one fund, called the 

 consolidated fund. 



The various duties constituting the 

 total public revenue of Great Britain, arc 

 arranged under the following heads : 



1. The Customs, which consist of du- 

 ties on goods imported, on goods export- 

 ed, on goods carried coastways, and a 

 tonnage duty. The total gross produce 

 of this branch of the revenue, in the year 

 ending 5th January, 1808, was 12,638,985/ 

 Os. 5$d. which being subject to various 

 deductions for drawbacks, bounties, 

 charges of management, &c. rendered 

 the net produce applicable to national 

 purposes, 10,193,172/. 19s 5$d. 



2. The Excise, which consists princi- 

 pally of duties on malt, and malt-liquors 

 of every kind, including the distillery ; 

 many other articles are, however, like- 

 wise included, as candies, leather, soap, 

 starch, tea, coffee, wine, tobacco, salt, 

 glass, printed goods, and bricks and tiles. 

 The total gross amount of this produc- 

 tive source of revenue, in the year end-' 

 ing 5th January, 1808, was 25,941,630/. 

 13s. 8|</. which was reduced, by allow- 





