REVENUE; 
peting St. Paul’s church. This revenue, 
small as it now appears, must have been at 
least fully adequate to all the national ex- 
penses, if an account laid before the Par- 
liament is to be depended upon, accord- 
ing to which the annual' 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 introduction 
of the funding system, caused a variety of 
new taxes to be imposed, and considerable 
additions to be made to those which pre- 
viously existed. The hearth-tax was abo- 
lished, and the land-tax was levied by a 
new assessment, which has continued ever 
since. The malt-tax, the tax on hawkers 
and pedlars, on hackney-coaches, with 
many other new taxes, were introduced, 
which, with the augmentation of the cus- 
toms 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 re- 
venue adequate to the payment of the in- 
terest on the great accumulation of public 
debt, and to support a constantly increasing 
expenditure. The produce of different du- 
ties formerly constituted separate funds, ap- 
propriated to specific purposes ; thus the 
several taxes which were rendered perpe- 
tual 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, are ar- 
ranged under the following heads : 
1. The Customs, which consist of duties 
on goods imported, on goods exported, 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. b^d. 
which being subject to various deductions 
for drawbacks, bounties, charges of ma- 
nagement, &c. rendered the net pro- 
duce, applicable to national purposes, 
10,193,172/. 19s. bid. 
2. The Excise, which consists principally 
of duties on malt, and malt-liquors of every 
kind, including the distillery j many other 
articles are, however, likewise included, as 
nandles, leather, soap, starch, tea, eoft’ce, 
wine, tobacco, salt, glass, printed goods,; 
and biicks and tiles. The total gross' 
amount of this productive source of revenue - 
in the year ending 5th January, 1808, was 
25,941,630/. 13s. 8|d. which was reduced, 
by allowances, drawbacks, and charges of 
management, to 24,169,716/. 13s. Old. 
3. Stamp Duties, laid on deeds and docu- 
ments of almost every description. This mode- 
of taxation was introduced into England’ 
in the year 1671, and revived in 1694, when’ 
a particular set of commissioners were first 
appointed for managing these duties ; the 
produce was at first of small amount, but 
new duties being imposed, to which nu- 
merous additions have been since made, it 
has gradually increased, and, in the year 
ending 5th January, 1808, the gross amount 
was 4,543,971/. 17s. 5id. This amount is 
subject to various deductions, as, the 
charges of management, discounts, and 
other parliamentary allowances, the cost of 
parchment and paper for the country dis- 
tributors, an allowance to the two univer- 
sities on almanacks, and other incidental 
expenses, which reduced the net produce 
to 4,458,738/. 14s. O-^d. 
4. Land and Assessed Taxes. The land 
tax for many years differed from all other 
branches of the public revenue (except the 
old malt duty) in being granted annually j it 
was however regularly continued from year 
to year, never being wholly taken off, but 
it varied with respect to the rate at which it 
was imposed, having been usually reduced 
during peace and increased again in time of 
war, to answer in part the increased expen- 
diture. From 1776 to 1798 it was regu- 
larly continued at 4s. in the pound, at 
which rate it was supposed to produce 
1,989,673/. 7s. lO^t/. for England, and 
47,954/. Is. 2d. for Scotland, making in the 
whole 2,037,627/. 9s. Oi. ; there was how- 
ever a constant deficiency, to the amount, 
at an average, of about 235,000/. per 
annum, varying according to the regularity 
with which the tax was collected, and the 
amount of the different charges to which it 
was liable. In 1799 a scheme w'as adopted 
for the redemption of the land tax, for 
which purpose an act was passed, making 
the tax perpetual ; it was then offered for 
sale to the proprietors of tlie lands upon 
which it was charged, or, if they declined 
it, to any other person who chose to become 
a purchaser. The consideration to be given 
in either case was not to be in money, but 
in three per cent, stock ; the object of the 
scheme being to absorb a large quantity of 
