The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-02-20 00:00:00

Ely 3tottatiby Obertier.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1875.

TAXATION AND FINANCE.

For severalfweeks before the introduction of
the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequbr
has an opportunity of learning the views of
different classes of the body politic on the pro-
prietary of the continuance of the abolition of
sertain descriptions of taxation. Deputations
arrive in London for this purpose as'regular as
the spring comes round. A very numerous one
generally is that which asked for the repeal of
the Malt Tax—a request which has been made
to successive chancellors for a quarter of a cen-
tury past. Mr. Disraeli when filling that office
In Lord Derby's first Government three and
twenty years ego, made an effort to meet the
wishes of the Malt Tax repealers ; but it was
not successfull, the administration having been
defeated on its Budget, and Compelled to resign.
Since then little or nothing has been done-to-
wards the removal of the impost complained of
It has been felt that, howedt3r flourishing the
revenue might be, the sacrifice of seven millions
sterling could. not be made. The money was
raised easily, that is to say indirectly, as an ex-
else duty; and was not, therefore, like the In-
come Tax, a direct demand upon the pocket.
Other suppliants to the keeper of the finances
ware the advocates of the repeal of the Brewers'
License duty, the taxes upon stage carriages,
upon.dogs, agricultural horses, guns, and a host
of other things. And there was sure to be a
representative deputation which pressed upon
the Chancellor the propriety of sweeping away
the Income Tax.
Now, the Income Tax is a very old acquaint-
awe. much older, in fact, than many people
give it credit for. As far back as 1512 Parlia-
ment granted a subsidy of two-fifteenths from
the Commons, sad tero.tenthe from the clergy
to 'sable Slag Henry VIII. to enter oz a war
with France. In 1798 Mr. Pitt proposed and
carried, amid great opposition, increased taxes
"as an aid for the prosecution of the war," also
with France. This Act was repealed, and gra-
duated duties on income were imposed, begin-
ning with £6O per annum, on the 9th of January
1799. On the 11th of August, 1808, a law re.
caked the sanction of the Legislature, levying a
rate of 5 per cent. on all incomes above £l5O,
and lower rates on smaller incomes. In 1805
Os rate was increased to 61 per cent. and in the
flowing year to 10 per cent. In the first year
of the present century, the Income Tax produced
iTS millions and three-quarters sterling ; in 1806,
eleven millions and a half; and in 1808, sixteen
millions and a half. At this time of day, when
the sums we have mentioned would represent
considerable more than they did then, we can
form but little idea of the enormous weight of
taxation which then pressed upon the people.
All classes earned much less than they do now,
and had to pay very much more. Year after
year this went on until the great French war
was over, and in 1816 the Income Tax was done
away with. But the exigencies of the war had
loft an excise duty more or less heavy upon a
vast number of articles of daily use, and the
bulk of these remained until Sir Robert Peel
came into power, backed by a large majority, in
September, 1841. He had not been in office
many mou,ths before he took the bold step of
proposing to the House of Commons the revival
of the Income Tax, which had been extinguished
within a few months of the Battle of Waterloo.
Sir Robert Peel well knew the unpopularity
which upon the face of it, such a measure must
evoke. But by way of counterbalance, he
showed how with an Income Tax of sevenpenco
in the pound, or £2 18s. 4d. per cent., he could
sweep away the excise duty:upon hundreds of
articles, strike off the shackles from the arms of
industry, and create a wonderful impetus for
trade. Parliament acceded to the proposals of
the Minister, limiting the continuance of the,
tcepost to a term of three years. It produced
about 415,800,000 per annum, and led to the re-
Peal of £12,000,000 of indirect taxes. But when
ease its elaborate machinery was in work it was
deemed expedient in 1845 to continue it for
another term of three years, and this was the
dlaa• again in 1148. That wai !i time of distress
*Mt of political commOtion, ftd large nreetinge
assembled in Trafalgar-equars for the purpose of
*Wang the proposition of the Govern/Imo,
'doting ensued, but this walt soon quelled.
Ix
1851 the Income Tax was renewed for one year
and again in 1852.—111 the following year Mr.
aladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer in
the Ministry of Lord Aberdeen, and brought
forward a very elaborate Budget, in which he
proposed to limit the Income Tax to seven
years, to be gradually reduced in amount during
that time until it bectime extinct. The outbreak
of the Russian War completely upset these die
positions, and instead of its growing smaller, it
waS doubled, in tile year 1855 standing at four-
teen-pence in the pound. In the course of
twelve months it produced sixteen millions ster-
ling. When the war was over it dropped to its
moral rate, and with fluctuations continues to
this day. No Chancellor of the Exchequer
cares wholly to dispense with it, for by a con-
venient turn of the screw, and the addition of a
penny or twopence, a larger sum is brought in-
to the Exchequer. True. Mr. Gladstone, in his
appeal to the country last year, declared that he
atm his way clear to the abolition of the income
Tax with certain re-adjustments; but as the
reply of the constituencies was unfavourable to
the stay of the Liberals in power, the control of
the nation& fionuoies passed to other hands ;
sad the late Premier has not found it necessary
he would lotee echieved the re-
to captain how
snit whieh he foreshadowed iii his address to
electors of Greenwich on that memorable 23rd
01 January, 1874.
A man must be very sanguine indeed who
expects to see the Income Tex taken off this
year. If, twelve months ago, with a surplus of
six millions sterling, Sir Stafford Northcute took
oft only a penny in the poinel, it seems scarcely
likely that with little or 110 surplus at all, be
Can dispense with twoperce. We should all
like the Income Tax token tewet , hut it is a most
bandy instrument to the Government of the day
Sad can be increased to any reasonable amount
in ease of a great national emergency. There
is no doubt that its foundation rests upon a vie-
ions systtm, that it is inquisitorial in its opera-
tion, and that it makes no distinction between
The incomes of a fixed and of a precarious char-
acter, but the Chancellor of the Exchegue,
argues that when twelve naon‘ba ago a great
political leader went to the nation with a pro-
gramme which had "Income Tax abOlition 1"
its wateiemord, the nation pi4uiounced against
, ; and by inference he concluded that th.
6-001112Ary ts4l A whole would rather keep the In-
•entle Tai than part with it