CHAP. VII. Financial Situation of the Country-Income-Expenditure-Reduction of Duties on Hemp, Coffee, Wine, British Spirits, Rum, CiderDiminution of the Assessed Taxes-Motions for the Repeal or further Diminution of Taxes negatived. N the 28th of February the 900,000l., of which it was antiwas gave an exposition of the financial situation of the country, and of the pecuniary arrangements for the year. In the former session he had assumed that at the expiration of 1824, there would be a clear surplus of about 1,050,000l.; and upon that assumption the House had made a reduction in our taxes to the amount of 1,260,000l., of which sum it was calculated that the revenue would in that year lose about one half, or 630,000l.; so that, if, at the end of the year, the surplus had been 420,000l., his estimate would have been realized. However, notwithstanding the reduction was made, and notwithstanding that a more immediate effect was given to that reduction, and greater loss consequently sustained than had been originally contemplated, the actual surplus of the year was 1,437,7447., exceeding even that surplus which might have been expected had there been no diminution of the taxes. Mr. Robinson made some observations upon the different branches of the revenue in which this increase had taken place. In the Customs, the receipt had been estimated at 11,550,000l.; and as Customs duties were afterwards repealed to the amount of at least lost to the revenue in 1824, his calculations would have been verified, if the actual receipt had been 11,100,000l.: in addition, however, to the loss sustained by the immediate effect of reduced duty, the nett receipt of the Customs was still further lowered by the payment of no less than 460,000l. upon the stock in hand of silk, in order to give more immediate efficacy to the change of system in regard to that article: and yet, in spite of these two circumstances, the nett produce of the Customs for 1824 was no less than 11,327,000l. "What are the causes" said Mr. Robinson which have produced this important result? The proximate cause, doubtless, is the increased capacity of the people of this country to consume the produce of other countries, aided and invigorated by the reciprocal facility which our consumption of foreign articles gives to other nations in the extended use of the products of our own industry. That increase may arise in some degree from the demonstrated tendency of population to increase: but independently of that cause, there is a principle in the constitution of social man which leads nations to open their arms to each other, and to establish new and closer con- In the Excise, the produce which had been anticipated was 25,625,000l.; the actual result was 26,768,000l., being an excess of 1,143,000l.: and this increased consumption was such as to indicate, in an unequivocal manner, the increasing ease, comfort, and happiness of the people.* The following was the detail of the increase and decrease on the different articles of Excise. The stamps had been estimated in 1824, at 6,800,000l.; and afterwards there had been proposed a reduction of law stamps, which, at the rate of 200,000l., per annum, and commencing on the 10th Oct. 1824, would have brought the receipt down to 6,750,000l. one quarter only of the reduced duty being lost in that year. produce of the year was 7,244,000l. The Post-office which had been taken at 1,460,000l., brought 1,520,000l. The real Mr. Robinson next stated his calculations for the present year, and the grounds upon which they were formed. He assumed the produce of 1825, including every thing, at 56,445,370l. The ex Vinegar An increase upon Wine Wrought Plate ...... ::::: 10 150 penditure would be 56,001,8421., including 5,486,654l., for the sinking fund, which would leave a clear surplus of 443,528. Such was the general result, at which he arrived from the following details. The Customs for 1825, he took at 11,350,000l.; which was an excess above the actual nett produce of the former year; for to that year's receipt, taken as the basis of the present estimate, there were to be added 50,000l., which would be saved by the progressive diminution of bounties upon fish and linen; and 460,000l. being the amount of the repayment on the stock in hand of silk, which was merely a casual loss. These sums stood as follows: Receipts of 1825 .... £11,327,000 £11,837,000 Deducting from this, 410,000l. for the full operation of the reduction of duties last year, there would remain 11,427,000l.; so that in fixing the estimate for this branch at 11,350,000l., elbowroom was left to the amount of 77,000l. The estimate for the Excise was stated at 26,400,000l.; the produce of last year was 26,768,000l. from which was to be deducted 200,000l., on account of the entire cessation of the salt duty, and 37,000l. on account of the further effect of last year's diminution of the duty on rum, so that the probable produce of 1825 would be but it would be 26,531,000l.; prudent to take it at 26,400,000l. The stamps, would, in all probability, produce 7,100,000l., after allowing for a diminution of 150,000l. on account of the further effect of the repeal of the *The increase of the sinking fund beyond last year arose, in a great measure, from the course adopted respecting the dissentient holders of 4 per cents. The stock standing in their names amounted to about 6,000,0007.; and as they were to be paid off by an be subsequently discharged out of the issue of Exchequer bills, which were to sinking fund, the amount of their stock was transferred, at an interest of 3 per cent, from their names to those of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, and the interest of the stock so transferred became an addition to the sinking fund. thought it desirable to fix the duty permanently at 27s.; and modify7,911,751 ing the drawback accordingly, this 5,983,126 1,376,641 change of system would save to 2,300,000 the revenue 3s. per cwt. in the drawback, and might be taken in 1827 (the first year in which the modification would be in operation) as a total saving of about 300,000l. £56,001,842 A portion of the increased charge of the army arose from the expense to be incurred by training the English and Scotch militia: and the miscellaneous charge was augmented by the necessity of paying no less than 250,000l. to the United States of America for certain Negroes who left their masters and attached themselves to our forces during the late war. By the treaty of Ghent we were bound to pay for such Negroes; and the award of the emperor of Russia, under the provisions of that treaty, had fixed the price at that sum. Deducting then the total charge of 56,001,842. from the total revenue of 56,445,370l., the nett surplus would be, as before stated, 443,5281.; and, upon this basis, a surplus of 864,6761. might be expected for 1826, and of 1,254,6761. for 1827. The increase of the latter surplus beyond that of the year immediately preceding it, was to be expected from a proposed diminution in the bounty upon the exportation of refined sugar. By the existing law, the duty upon raw sugar varies according to its price; when the average price is below 478., the duty is 27s. per cwt., and the duty is liable to a graduated scale of increase, according as the average price may reach certain specified amounts: but the draw back upon the exportation of refined sugar is calculated upon the supposition, that the duty upon the muscovado is invariably paid at the higher rate. Mr. Robinson It thus appeared that the surplus of the years ending with 1827 would be as follows: Total .... ... £4,000,624 In applying this surplus to the diminution of the public burthens, Mr. Robinson stated that he had three main objects in view :-1st, Increased facility of consumption at home, in conjunction with increased extension of commerce abroad; 2nd, The restriction of smuggling; and 3rd, Some alleviation of the pressure of direct taxation. To accomplish these objects, after alluding to Mr. Huskisson's plans for reducing the prohibitory duties, and recommending the duty on iron to be lowered from 61. 10s. to 11. 10s. per ton, he proceeded to specify the reduction which he meant to propose upon various articles of foreign produce, the duties upon which, although not avowedly or really prohibitory, were nevertheless so high as to impede the consumption, and to press with considerable severity upont hose who used them. The first of these articles was hemp, from which he recommended a reduction of half the present duty, at a loss to the revenue of about 100,000l. The next article was coffee. The existing duties upon coffee were on West India .... ls. per lb. East India.... 18. 6d. Foreign ...... 2s. 6d. He proposed to grant a reduction of 6d. in the lb. on the duty upon West Indian coffee to extend the reduction to cocoa. Taking both articles together, the revenue would probably be diminished to the amount of 150,000l. But the most important of all the topics introduced by Mr. Robinson, was the reduction of the duties on wine. To explain the grounds on which he proceeded, he went back to the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, when the duty on wine was as follows, viz. 1801 French 1802 8s. 9d. per gallon. 8 10 At present, the duty on French wine was 11s. 5d per gallon: on wines not French, 7s. 7d: and the consumption of 1824, after the lapse of more than twenty years, notwithstanding the great increase of our population and of our general opulence, had been so far from keeping pace with that increase, that it did not exceed 254,268 gallons of French wine, and 4,847,976 gallons of other wine. His intention was, to reduce the duty on French wines to 6s. per gallon, and on wines not French, to 4s. The loss to the revenue from this change he estimated at 230,000l. In order to diminish the temptations to smuggling, he proposed to allow whiskey to be On imported into England. The present duty of 10s. 6d. per gallon on all British spirits, he would reduce to 5s. per gallon on all spirits distilled from malt, and to 6s. on those distilled from grain. the same principle, he would reduce the duty on rum, which was at present 10s. 6d. per gallon, at proof, to 88.; and permit whiskey to be made from grain in our colonial possessions, and to be sent here either for the purpose of being rectified, or of being sold as whiskey. The loss to the revenue from these sources would be 750,000l. The duty on cider, which was at present 30s. per hogshead, he would reduce to 10s., by which the revenue would lose 20,000l. As to the direct taxes, Mr. Robinson proposed to remove the duty from four-wheeled carriages drawn by ponies, amounting to 8571.; the tax upon occasional waiters, amounting to 1,3431.; on coachmakers licenses, 354l.; on carriages sold by commission 3,3911.; on mules employed in carrying ore, 1371.; on houses, which were vacated after the beginning of the year, 5,000l.; on untenanted houses, 4,000l.; on an additional window in dairies, 1,000l.; on farm-houses, occupied by labourers, 1,000l.; on husbandry servants, occasionally employed as grooms, 2,000l.; on husbandry horses, let to hire, 4,000l.; on taxed carts, 18,9131.; on houses under 10l. rent the whole of the inhabited house duty; and the whole window duty on houses not having more than seven, 235,000l. The total amount of these items would cost the revenue only about 276,995l., but they were items of which, as they were exceedingly vexatious in the collection, it was particularly advisable to get rid. |