The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

ITV COME TAX.

DEPUTATION TO THE CHANCELLOR, OF TO
EXCHEQUER,
' Yesterday afternoon a numerous deputation, headed bi
Major Reed, M.P., and comprising a large body of met
bers of the Property and Income Tax Association. wall"
by appointment, upon the Right. Hon. the Chancellor
the Exchequer, at his official residence in Downing..streV_°
to represent to him the feeling of opposition which tb
country generally entertains against the continuance °1
the increased income tax beyond the sth of April 'tell',:
and the disfavour iu which the tax was held on accetl°,
of its unequal and inquisitorial character. The deputt
tion numbered in all between thirty and forty gentleme7,
Major Reed, M.P., Mr. Deputy Barnard, Mr. J. Bell'
Mr. Shaw (High Constable of Huddersteld), Mr. Nicholai:
of Marylebone. and Mr. Gowing, of Ipswich, ha"
severally addressed the right hon. gentleman.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said in reply that the
observations which had been addressed to him turned 11P."
two questions :—First upon the nature of the tax itself'
and secondly, upon the amount of the tax. The tax 5,"3,
said to be inquisitorial and unequal, but that objectil
would apply to it just as much if it were only sd. insteo`;
of is. 4d. in the pound, and he therefore did not see th°,
there would be any advantage in now entering into 0
lengthened argument upon that part of the subject. Ae,
that he could say was that at any time he should be Pr r
pared to give a most careful consideratioh.to any facts °,,
arguments that could be broughtTerwaid as bearing tlq;
the question, or to adopt any detailed plan which could
fairly shown would have the effect of removing the ohjeci;
tions chmplained of. Those who advocate a unife
system of direct taxation might indulge in pleasl,°.!
theories; but he was afraid that when those theorl;
came to be carried out, experience would show that
they were in a great measure impracticable. He o°4
came to a second and more importantpoint; viz., t``,,
amount of the tax ; and in touching upon that he must be!.
of the deputation to dismiss from their minds the notion
that the government had any love of taxation in the
abstract, or that they had any wish to continue a tax o°t
~
absolutely necessary for the public service. They had no
wish to take advantage of a few words in an act of part
'lament, for the sake of continuing a tax which was 0°
required. Now the taxes imposed for the service of the
war were embraced in several acts and in each act the
wording was different, as was the duration of the parti-
cular tax to which the act referred. For example, there
was the malt tax, which was increased by act of parlia-
ment, and the act specified that the increase should ottlY
continue till the sth of July after the termination of
.the
war.' The deputation must be aware that he had not pew
posed that steps should be taken for continuing the tax, and
the reduction took place on sth July, while the government
lost something like a million of money, which they would
otherwise have been entitled to in the nature of a draw
back. Then again, there were the duties upon tea, sugar'
and coffee, the increase on which would terminate on the of April next, as no proposal had been made 10`,,
"
continuing it longer. With regard however, to the income,:
tax, it so happened that by the wording of the act the
increase was to be continued until the sth of April, 18581
and all that he could say to them at present was, that the
government would not take any advantage of these peculia:
words to continue the increase if the reduction could bhu
made earlier. (Hear, hear.) The gentleman from Ipswie;
had observed andthe analogy was a correct one, that th
People of England ought to be treated with the same
~
liberality as the King of Sardinia. In the latter case, ovii°&
to the particular wording of an Act of Parliament, cartel°
advances which the King would otherwise have been 00;
titled to would have ceased:, but the government believi°'
that such was not the spirit of the act of parliame°6;
thought it was only due to the honour of the country tbs.
the advances should be made. (Hear, hear.) No doe
the same argument could• be applied to this question 01`
the income tax, but it should be remembered it was not 7
question of taxation but of expenditure. In the first
„5
place, there would be next year a slight increase in the
interest on the public debt; then there would be t"'"„
million of Exchequer Bonds falling due ; the expenditure
of the Civil List seldom varied, and they must look, to
the two items of the army and the navy. The
quest°o
was, what would the army and the navy require ? Tllt5
he could not at present say, as neither of those depah
•ments had yet sent in their estimates to the Treasury
and upon these estimates, the right hon. gentleman Pro!,
ceeded to observe, the House of Commons would have o
decide. '
The deputation having thanked the right hon. gentle
man for the courtesy with which he had treated theill'
then withdrew. i; _