day would consent to be governed. They on the last reimposition of the income-tax lived in new times, and needed new men no one had opposed it. This he denied. to govern them. Let them, then, draw He was glad to see that the right hon. Batheir precedents, not from the old sluggish ronet the Member for Tamworth was not humdrum minds that were gone, but from absent, for de absentibus equally as de the active spirits of the present day, that had mortuis nil nisi bonum; and he was going produced the electric telegraph, the penny to say not bonum but malam of him. It post, the steam-engine, the railway, and had been said, he repeated, that no one all the mechanical inventions of the age. had objected to the last reimposition of the Let the Chancellor of the Exchequer be- income-tax. Now, litera scripta manet, ware lest he might be obliged soon to and Parliamentary records might be recome down to the House and demand in-ferred to. When the income-tax was procreased taxation on another account. He posed in the first instance, he voted for it hoped that this country would remain at because he placed confidence in the right peace; and, indeed, they had the assurance hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth, of the noble Lord at the head of the Go- though events had proved that, in that revernment that it was not the intention of spect, he had relied upon a broken reed; the Government to interfere with France. but when it was again proposed in 1845, Let them show foreign countries that they he voted in the minority against it. When, were serious on that point; but let them therefore, he heard the Chancellor of the not at the same time show foreign countries Exchequer, his right hon. relative say, that that they were not in a position to go to no person opposed the tax in 1845, he felt war, in consequence of disturbing the pub-it necessary to correct the misrepresentalic mind at home. With respect to the income-tax, there was a talk of extending it to Ireland; and, perhaps, when that happened, the Irish Members would have some feeling for the starving English, and vote against the income-tax altogether. He protested against the invasion of the rights of the middle class; and while he did so he equally protested against the invasion of the rights of the landed class. He was in a position which well qualified him to speak of the latter class, for within the last three years he had examined, valued, and inquired into landed estates more than any other man, and he had not heard two complaints against the landlords. So lame and impotent a statement as that made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer he had never listened to. He was sorry that more competent Gentlemen were not at the head of the monetary department of the Government, to give satisfaction to the people for the expenditure. He could assure hon. Gentlemen on the Ministerial benches that the days of temporising were gone, for no people were so rapidly improving in political and other matters as the people of England. COLONEL SIBTHORP rejoiced that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had thought it wise to abandon that part of the budget which had been hastily proposed by the noble Lord (Lord J. Russell). He recommended both to take care how they again put to sea without a compass to guide them, and without a crew to carry them through dangers. It had been said that tion. Upon that point he might exclaim with Othello, " Speak of me as I am." He was glad to perceive that the hon. Member for Montrose was to be one of the Committee on the Estimates. The country placed confidence in the hon. Member's integrity; and there could be little doubt that if he could succeed in cutting down the salaries of Ministers and lopping off unnecessary expenses, the income of the country would prove equal to the expenditure without any additional taxation. MR. MUNTZ had never witnessed so decided a feeling in the country as that which prevailed against the proposition which the Government had that evening withdrawn. Had the Government persisted in the attempt to carry that proposition into effect they must have been driven from power, and he was by no means sure that they were safe now. The country objected to the tax altogether, because of its unequal operation and inquisitorial character. Like other Members he was perfectly astonished when he heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer declare that the tax had met with no opposition in 1845. Upon that occasion the hon. Member for Middlesex moved that the Income-tax Bill should be read six months from the day on which it was then proposed to be read a second time; and he (Mr. Muntz) seconded the Motion. The Chancellor of the Exchequer anticipated an improvement in the revenue; but he differed from the right hon. Gentleman upon that point. The experience of every day showed that we were losing our export trade. rested on an unsound basis. A great portion of the trade then carried on was of a speculative character, and the transactions were not paid for; thus leading to many of the failures which occurred last year. The proceeding to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer was now about to resort, of making payments out of the balances in the Exchequer, was pregnant with danger in the present circumstances of the country. By reducing the balances the Government would be unable to pay the dividends without calling upon the Bank to make advances, and by making those advances the Bank would be prevented from assisting persons engaged in trade. The country was in a position which demanded serious consideration. The reaction of 1845-6 | thought that that was the duty of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and not of hon. Members. It was their duty, not to find a substitute, but to object to any tax which they thought improper. They had been told that this tax was absolutely necessary; but now that they strenuously opposed it, the Government thought they could do without it, and that some substitute could be found. The same course might have been adopted had the House resisted the imposition of the income-tax altogether. He trusted the country from one end to the other would resist an im post by which the man of property paid no more than he who derived his income solely from his talents. 26,000,000l. of taxes had been taken off; and it was the duty of the Government to reduce the expenditure in proportion to that amount, or else to devise a substitute less oppressive and unjust. MR. MITCHELL entirely concurred in the opinions expressed by the hon. Member for Birmingham, for he was persuaded that there was not the slightest chance of the trade of the country recovering from its present depression. It was highly probable that recent events in France would exercise an unfavourable influence on the Customs; and that, generally speaking, trade would be still further depressed. Whatever deficiency the Exchequer might exhibit, it ought to be supplied by direct taxation; and he called upon the Government not to pursue the course of bankruptcy which in 1841 brought disgrace upon the country. It was the duty of the Government to explain its views upon this point before calling for a vote of the House upon the question of the renewal of the income-tax. SIR R. H. INGLIS observed, that the noble Lord the Member for Marylebone had said that 26,000,000l. had been reduced from the taxation of the country; and he asked whether the ingenuity of the Ministers, or those who aspired to become Ministers, might not contrive to raise a sum equivalent to the necessities of the country by means other than by this inquisitorial impost? He would ask whether there was any one Member whose constituents had been relieved by the repeal of any portion of those 26,000,000, who would be willing to reimpose the tax on his constituents in lieu of this obnoxious income-tax? There had been, from the produce of the earth, in the shape of one LORD D. STUART said, his constitu- class of production, an income raised, in ency and the country at large had a settled the lifetime of many hon. Members, equal determination not to pay a tax so unequal to the revenue of any State of Europe, exand unjust as the income-tax. It was true cept three. That income had been rethat the concession just made would have nounced. 7,000,000l. of duty on the prothe effect of mitigating the dislike of the duce of barley had been repealed since the people against that impost; but he was cer- peace. Would any country Gentleman tain that it would not give satisfaction. support the proposition to reimpose any The objection which he (Lord D. Stuart) portion of that tax? The truth was, that felt to the tax did not arise from its they must either reduce their expenditure, amount so much, as from the fact that it or supply some substitute for this objecwas unequal in its operation, and inquisi- tionable tax. Why, even the hon. and torial in its nature. When the tax was gallant Member for Lincoln, however much first imposed, it was promised that it would he might object to the present tax, did not only last for three years; and he trusted venture to say that he could find an adethe non-fulfilment of that promise would quate substitute by the revival of any of serve as a caution to hon. Members not to the taxes that had been repealed. [Colonal rely hereafter on Ministerial appeals. The SIBTHORP: I do.] He congratulated the noble Lord at the head of Her Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer at having Government observed that those who dis-one so ready and able to supply that deliked the tax should find a substitute. He ficiency which the right hon. Gentleman found it so difficult to discover the means of doing. It was not for him (Sir R. Inglis) to make a tax; but he would submit to the consideration of the right hon. Gentleman a plan which had been adopted in France and in Belgium, and which ought not, in his opinion, to be absolutely without its weight in the consideration of the Finance Minister of England; and that was the imposition of a stamp duty on foreign bills of exchange. Another plan to which he was desirous of calling the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was the imposition of a tax upon gas. That, he apprehended, had not formed a part of the budget of the past or of the present Chancellor of the Exchequer; nor did he know that it was in the contemplation of the future Chancellor of the Exchequer, his hon. and gallant Friend the Member for the city of Lincoln. The hon. Baronet then adverted to the suggestion which he had on former occasions urged for commencing the charge of the tax at a given unit-say 501., 100l., or 150l.—that was to say, exempting every income of that amount, and beginning to reckon upwards from it; so that a person, say, of 150l. a year should be wholly exempt from the tax, and a person having 2001. a year should be taxed only upon the extra 501. By imposing a graduated scale on all incomes beyond that sum, the right hon. Gentleman would be able to realise a very considerable income without pressing upon persons in the situation of clerks in public offices, merchants' houses, law offices, and small annuitants, the parochial clergy, and all those who had small fixed incomes, and who had now to pay for such given sum precisely the same as if they were the Duke of Devonshire or Mr. Rothschild. He (Sir R. Inglis) would not at present say whether he would not yet, at a future period, give the House a more formal opportunity of pronouncing an opinion upon this proposition; but, at all events, he earnestly recommended that right hon. Gentleman to take it into his serious consideration. MR. BLACKSTONE understood that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had said, that no hon. Member on the Opposition benches had opposed this tax when it was first proposed by the right hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth. Now he (Mr. Blackstone) begged to say that he was almost the only person on the Opposition benches who opposed the right hon. Gentleman when he originally introduced the tax; and he did so on the ground that the right hon. Gentleman was only making it an engine with a view of enabling him to repeal the corn laws. He also opposed its reimposition, on the ground that it was unjust to apply it to England and Scotland and not to Ireland. MR. SEELEY expressed his regret at the addition made to the national debt. For the last two years the deficiency was between 6,000,000l. and 7,000,000%. 1,500,000l. was to be placed to the account of Irish distress; but, nevertheless, it was so much added to the debt. He thought that the public accounts might be more simplified than they were. It would be desirable that on a certain day in every year there should be presented to the House an abstract of the assets and liabilities of the country, so that the House might see at a glance whether the debt was increased or not. The House ought also to be informed what was the state of our finances in India. Order of the Day for the Committee of Ways and Means read: Committee postponed till Friday. House adjourned at Eleven o'clock. INDEX. INDEX ΤΟ HANSARD'S PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES, VOLUME XCVI. BEING THE SECOND VOLUME OF SESSION 1847-1848. EXPLANATION OF THE ABBREVIATIONS. 1R. 2R. 3R. First, Second, or Third Reading-Amend., Amendment.-Res., Resolution.-Comm., The indicates that no Debate took place upon that stage of the Bill. ABERDEEN, Earl of Rome, Diplomatic Relations with, Com. 878 ADDERLEY, Mr. C. B., Staffordshire, N. c. Leave, 4; 1R.* 7; 2R.* 458 Adrianople, Treaty of Foreign Policy, ADVOCATE, The LORD (Right Hon. A. Appeal in Criminal Cases Bill, Rutherfurd), Leith, &c. c. Leave, 1299; 1R.* 1332 Entail, Law of, Amendment (Scotland), Leave, | Army, 1307 Shipwrecks on the Shetland Islands, 1036 AGLIONBY, Mr. H., Cockermouth Estimates- Supply, c. 1021 Spirits, Sale of, in Canteens, c. Question Game Certificates for Killing Hares, Leave, ARUNDEL AND SURREY, Earl of, Arundel 1303 Roman Catholic Relief, Com. 732, 754 |