The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-17 00:00:00

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portion was for the last year; and this, together with cer-
i on corporations brought to the mind of the Government
tain miner augmentations due to the gradual growth of the 1 this further remarkable fact, that in this country we have
licence. duties and other duties of Excise, places the esti- I levied during the financial year which has just closed about
mace for Excise at £17,600,000. The stamps I take at , 15 millions of hard money in direct taxation, but that every
X2,,ooo,ooo,taxesat£3,l6o,ooo,theincome-teamat L 10,500,000, 1 shilling of that money is taken out of the poe'eets of indi-
the rest-office at £3,800,000, the Crown lands at £300,000, 1 vidtais, and that whatever in held strictly in mortmain, in
the miscellaneous at £2,500,000, and the China indemnity the hands of corporate bodies, or professes to promote cha-
nt £150,000, There again it will be asked why so much rity, does tot contribute one shilling, as I shael contend, to
larger credit is taken for this item than in previous years, those £15,000,000. (Hear, hear.) I venture to say that
The answer to this is two-fold. First of all in the year this is an unjust state of things. It is not fair that the tax-
which has just elapsed elapsed we made a large payment to the payers of this country, the fathers of families, men labouring
merchants of nearly £200,000—£192,000, I believe—on Ito support their wives and children, should pay taxes aug-
account of their claims, and there is no corresponding item I naented in order to encourage gentlemen on their death-beds,
of deduction from the receipts of the present year which 1 when they can no longer enjoy the money themselves, to
will come net to the public service. Again, though I have ' devise ingenious methods of disposing of their wealth, which
only taken credit in the account of last year up to the 30th shall cause their names to be written up in enormous capital
of September, I believe in the present year we shall be letters, and create governors of trusts who shall meet toge- ,
able tc take credit up to the 31st of December.—in fact, ther at sumptuous dinners from year to year in order to
£450,000 from this source is an estimate which I feel ter- glorify the pious and immortal memory of the man who has
fectly justified in making. All these items together , devised this ingenious method of disposing of his proper' y.
bring up the estimated revenue for the year 1863-4 to (Loud cheers.) lam not going to say one word in disparage-
£7l,49o,ooo. The estimated expenditure Tor the year ment of these institutit ns, except up to the point that they
is £67,749,000; consequently there is an excess of income ought not to enjoy that very large amount of positive pe-
over expenditure of £3,741,000. (Cheers) s ) The committee cuniary preference at the cost of the general community
will, perhaps, think that when the Government has no im- which is a earded to them by the present state of the law.
pediment in its way to prevent it from proceeding to the (Hear, hear.) I refer now to what is the principal part of
agreeable duty of the remission of taxation, it is idle for the whole matter, that when the exemption was first granted
them to trouble themselves with the consideration of any the state of the case was very different. At that time the
questions tending to the aoginentation of revenue. At the State undertook no direct expenditure for education—one of
same time in the complicates and extensive financiel eyetem the main objects of endowed charities. The State under-
of this country anomalies great or small are always being took no direct expenditure for the poor—another main pur-
brought to light, sometimes from the representations of in- pose of these endowed charities. Far less did the State
terested persons, sometimes because they are found to have undertake any expenditure on account of charities them- '
been anomalies when originally embodied in the law, and selves. How stands the case now ? The votes which are
I
sometimes because, though not originally such, they have submitted to this house for the present year for those pur-
become anomalous, and even mischievous, in consequence of poses include—for education, £1,111,000 ; for the Poor- Law
the alteration of circumstances. It is the duty of the Go- t oard, £227,000 ; for Universities, £35,000 ; and for these
vernment steadily and continuously, in a great degree with- I charities themselves a little item of £lB,OOO a-year. So that
out reference to popular pressure, though always paying a the public are now called upon, not only to have the pro-
due regard to popular opinion, to remove those anomalies perty of these charities maintained and improved at the cost
upon fitting occasions by judicious proposals to Parliament, of these general taxes, without contributing a farthing, but
(Hear.) The first proposal of the present year which has a are called upon to provide the expenses of a board, secre-
bearing upon financial matters, though mainly relating to taries, clerks, and a considerable establishment, in order to
trade, is that which has to do with the tobacco duties, and manage charities of this description. There are other
which has already become law. We have already taken points upon which Ido not intend to dwell. One is, that
credit for that alteration of the law in the Estimate of it being hardly possible to construe the law, it is obliged to
the Customs revenue which I have laid before the CM- be administered roughly and hand-over-head, as it canbest
mince. The next claimant to oar attention is familiar be done. The opinions of law officers come to throw great
to the committee—l mean the duty on chicory. (A. laugh.) doubt upon any exemption. If a person leave property for
The state of the case is very simple. There appears to be the benefit of the poor of his parish, one would suppose that
a very general agreement among persons of authority that is charity. But, no; that is nut charity, because it goes in
both in the revenue departments and in the commercial aid of the poor-rate. An infinity of questions of the moat
world that, as chicory and coffee are used strictly for the perplexed kind arise, and the difficulty in the execution of
same purposes in a combination together which is indis- the law is beyond anything that can be conceived. I have
tinguishable to the ordinary consumer, they ought to pay spoken of the £lB,OOO a year for the maintenance of the
the same tax. (Hear, hear.) Then comes the divergence, Charity Commission, It is a very useful and beneficial ex-
because one portion of the world says " raise the duties on penditure. But, over and above that, the revenue depart-
chicory," and theother says "lower the duties on coffee." (A ment is at a great expense for the purpose of endeavouriog
laugh) If that be the alternative, my own inclination is very to administer this law. The complexity and minuteness of
decidedly t o raise the dutyon chicory,notonlybecauseit tends the claims are indescribable. A single institution has pro-
to greater gain, but for these two very plain reasons. At the party in 40 or 50, and sometimes in 100 different parishes,
present moment coffee is lightly taxed in proportion to its and on each of those properties are charged 'little bequests
value, when we compare it with tea or any other article with and little payments, into the investigation of which it is
which it can be compared (hear, hear), and consequently if impossible to enter with the view of ascertaining whether
we lower the duty we hazard a very considerable revenue— they are for the purposes of charity or not. Therefore, upon
some £loo,ooo—without having any hopes of so acting upon the sound general ground that all property ought to contri-
prices or improving the circumstances of consumption as to bute to those taxes, which, if they are justly paid, are not a
give any sensible relief to the people, or of producing any penalty on property, but are the means of keeping property
corresponding or even fractional improvement to there venue. Available for the enjoyment of the owner, upon the ground
I propose, therefore, to equalise the duties on coffee and chi- of the altered practice of the State, and upon the ground of
cory. I propose that the duty on foreign chicory, with a cer- the difficulty and confusion of administering the law as it at
tarn amount for waste, shall be 265. 6d., as compared with present stands, we propose that that exemption shall cease
275, on coffee, and in regard to chicory grown at home that to exist. At the same time there are certain provisions
the tax, with a small allowance, shall be 245. 4d. I may which it is necessary to keep alive. Part of the exemption
take this opportunity of stating that, while with regard to refers to buildings belonging to hospitals, colleges, and cha-
the other resolutions which lam about to introduce to the rities of various descriptions. We do not propose to take
committee, we shall propose to take them on this day week, away that part of the exemption, and simply on the practical
with regard to the resolution on the chicory duties I shall ground that having in view the simplification of the law we
ask the house to take it at once, without prejudice to the tel- should not assist our object, as it would be extremely diffi-
timate judgment of the house on so grave a question, M cult to arrive at a principle upon which the buildings and
order to prevent the release of the article at the present their sites could be valued. We propose also to continue
duty to-morrow morning. There are several other ques- the exemption for the repairs of places of Divine worship.
tions of no great magnitude which I shall endeavour to With regard to what are termed voluntary subscriptions,
pass over, if I can, in a single sentence. It is an evident they stand on a totally different footing. No person will
anomaly in the law, as it is now worded, that strong liquors to assessed in respect of them. The property of endowed
sold at clubs are sold without any licence. (Loud laughter.) charities will be taxed by being taxed at its source, but all
These clubs are for such purposes in direct competition incomes from voluntary subscriptions comes from persons
with coffeehouses and hotels, which pay license duties. We who have paid the tax already, and it will remain as now
propose thin they shall pay the same rates of license duties unaffected by,this change in the law. Another reserve-
as the occupiers of hotels and coffeehouses—(oh, oh, and tion justice requires us to make, and it is thus. Where
hear, hear)—but, of course, effectual provision will be made there is an individual whose income is under £lOO, and who
to prevent any annoying accompaniment—any interference receives a portion of that income from charity, he shall in
at the discretion of a magistrate which may be unnecessary no case be liable to any abatement. If we were to refuse to
—any liability to the visitations of the police. It is merely return him the tax, which otherwise we should be obliged
a question of the equality of taxation, and my whole object to do, we should place him in a worse position in derogation
is to establish that equality. The next proposal is one of a of rights acquired anterior to the passing of the enactment
similar character. At present this case is not unfrequent. which we now propose, and therefore a provision is made to
A person applies to a justice of the peace for a license to sell secure him the same amount of income. (Hear.) This is a
strong liquors. He obtains a licence to sell spirits, and he matter of detail, but lam anxious to state completely what
then takes out a licence to sell beer, for which he only pays the change will be. (Hear.) I might detain the committee
£1 He afterwards drops the licence to sell spirits, and con- longer in dealing with this subject, inasmuch as it is one on
tinues the licence to sell beer ; but every other person want- which there is a good deal of perplexity involved. I, bow-
ing to sell beer, and not arriving at it through the medium of ever, now omit many points connected with it, to which I
a spirit licence pays £3 6s. I, therefore, propose that a man may take an opportunity of adverting on some future occa..
who arrives at abeer licence through the medium of a spirit sion. We do not, I may add, precisely know the exact
licence shall pay the same duty as he who takes it out at financial importance of this question ; but this we do know,
once, without any such process. (A laugh.) I am sorry that we retain taxes on £2,500,000 of property. We like-
to detain the committee with these details ; but all persons wise know that a very large amount of property in the coun-
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try is discharged from assessment altogether, and that has
been done as a mode of meeting the hopeless difficulties of
the case. But it is very probable—indeed, it is almost cer-
tain—that much of this property has passed from charities
into the hands of private individuals, who now pay no tax
upon it. In fact, we have completely lost sight of a consider-
able portion of it. But the tax, as estimated, is over £lOO,OOO
a year, and the removal of the exemption would bring it
down to £75,000, which is all that will come into the cof-
fers of the State in the present year. The minor changes I
mentioned bring in about £58,000 a year ; these, together
with others which were suggested for the amendment
of our fiscal system, amount to £133,000 a year, which
added to a surplus of £3,741,300, makes it £3,874,000
(Hear, hear.) Then comes the question of the manner in
which we are to dispose of that surplus. (Cheers.) The
first subject which I have to mention is one to which I can-
not allude without a pang to my self-love. I refer to the
penny charge on goods brought inward, which is sometimes
called a petty and sometimes asmall charge, and which was
proposed in 1860. It was originally proposed in the belief on
the part of the Government that it would be levied without
entailing any delay in the course of trade, or opposing to the
progress of trade any practical obstacle or hindrance. That
expectation has, I am bound to say, broken down. The
proposal was maintained for the purpose of getting the
money which was required at the moment. But, although I
think the state of the trade of the country amply shows
that the imposition of the charge amounts to no capital
grievance, yet a good deal of inconvenience does attend the
levying of the tax, It is liable to all the objections which
attach to deeds de balances, or, as we call them, nominal
duties, and we have now, I aoi happy to say, arrived at a
condition of the revenue which enables us to dispense with
this particular duty. I therefore propose that after the Ist
of next July, this penny charge inwards should cease and
determine. Alongside this there runs another charge, one
of is. 6d. en bills of lading outwards. The operation of
the two is, however, very different. There is no delay or
obstruction connected with the levy of the ls. 6d. duty.
It was imposed mainly with the view to statistical ob-
jects. A committee of this house, presided over by my
hon. friend the member for Honiton, having examined into
the matter, reported that in their opinion there were no
important statistical advantages to be derived from its im-
position, and the necessary statistical information could be
obtained without it. Now, having assented to the reference
of the question to that committee, the revenue derived from
the duty not being very important, and certain merchants
in this country, who are themselves most interested in
securing good statistics, and whose authority is entitled to
considerable weight, having stated it to be their opinion
that the tax was unnecessary for that purpose, we thought
it better to deal with it in the same manner as the penny
inward duty. We therefore propose that this is. 6d. duty
shall disappear from the same date. The total revenue re-
ceived from these charges amounts to £191,000, and as that
revenue will cease on the Ist of July we shall have the
charge for nine months, or £142,000, to deduct from the
surplus which I have stated. There have been times, in
ancient nations, at all events, when it was considered not
only warrantable but highly laudable for parents to bring
their own children to the scaffold or the axe. I now find
myself in that predicament. (A laugh.) I offer up these
children of mine with the greatest cheerfulness and good
humour, as far as I am concerned, on the altar of the com•
merce of my country. (Laughter.),. The next subject
which I have to submit to the mace of the committee is one
to which I feel very anxious to draw its favourable atten-
tion. It is of greater magnitude than the matters which I
have just mentioned; but it is not at the same time of such
magnitude as to dispose of a very large portion of the
surplus at our command. It relates to what may be called
the minor incomes now liable to the income tax, and I
must remind the committee of the course with respect to
it which has been taken by the legislature. When Mr.
Pitt first introduced the income tax, £6O was the limit
of the incomes to which the tax began to attach. But it
began to attach in a form so very mitigated as to be
of very little financial value, and I should be sorry to
be the man to return to such a provision in the
construction or rather reconstruction of the tax. Mr.
Pitt fixed the limit upwards at £2OO, and it was only
on incomes at and above that amount that the full force of
the tax fell. A very complicated series of arithmetical
tables of deductions was submitted by him to Parliament
which provided that the deductions should grow larger and
larger as the incomes became less and less down to the point
fixed. I have cited the authority of Mr. Pitt simply to
show that in his view, and in the view of the Parliament of
that day, £2OO constituted the limit at which the full opera-
tion of the tax ought to begin to attach. It is undoubtedly
true that since the time of Mr. Pitt the wealth of the country
has enormously increased, and with that enormous increase
in wealth the relative value of a given pecuniary income has
become diminished by many pounds sterling. An income
of £2OO a-year at the present day gives less consequence to
a man, and less social standing than it did in the time of
Mr. Pitt; and an important part of the proposal I am about
to make is, that we should fix £2OO a year as the limit below
which some deduction or favour in some form should attach

interested in the financial proposals of the year expect as a
matter of course that at this season of the year a full state-
ment shall be made of those proposals, and it would not be
fair to those parties if I were not to deal with all that
affects them in detail. (Hear.) A year or two ago we re-
moved a great anomaly, by which no person except a publi-
can was permitted to sell less than a dozen bottles of wine ;
and there is a similar anomaly still existing, which forbids
every one except a publican from selling less than two dozen
of beer. I propose to remove that anomaly, and to give
an additional licence for selling a less quantity of beer—of
course taking care that there shall be no possibility of sell-
ing on the premises. There is another question, of competi-
tion, which also demands our consideration. The proprietors
of omnibuses have been before the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, seeking for a reduction of duty. Their case really
divides itself into two parts. One of their complaints is the
amount they have now to pay, and they have another corn-
plaint of the undue competition they have to sustain. With
respect to the amount of duty they have to pay, it is only a
quarter of what they had to pay 25 or 30 years ago ; and
about eight years ago this house took the matter into its
own hands, and did grant considerable relief to stage coach
proprietors. I confess it appears to me that the only case
they have to make at present is that of undue competition,
owing to the mode in which other persons are dealt with.
The proprietors of stage coaches in the country complain
that carriers who profess to travel under four miles an hour
and carry passengers pay no duty whatever. It is impos-
sible to know whether they travel at four miles an hour or
not ; but their carriages are not of a character to pay at the
same rate as stage coaches; and what I propose is thatthey
should pay half the duty now paid by stage coaches. The
other part of the complaint of the omnibus owners is with
respect to the competition of the railways and of the un-
equal manner in which railways are taxed. The house is
aware that railways are supposed to pay 5 per cent on their
passenger receipts. But in 1842 a sort of compact was made
between the Government and the railway companies, and it
was ratified by the legislation of this house, under which
the railway companies undertook the obligation to run a
certain number of trains at fares not exceeding one penny
per mile, upon the condition of the exemption of those
trains from taxation. It may be said that it was a
covenant then made between them and the Government,
and that if the exemption be discontinued they are re-
leased from the obligation of running the trains. It is a
question not within my department, and upon which I am
not prepared to give an opinion. But since that time an
anomalous state of things has grown up. Exemptions are
usually bad, and, although a good deal may be said for this
particular exemption, a system has prevailed by which ex-
cursion traffic is entirely exempted from duty, while the re-
gular traffic is liable to pay a duty of 5 per cent. on the re-
ceipts- The Government submit most confidently to the
house that that is an anomalous and injurious state of
things. In the first place, it is wrong to draw a distinction
between one kind of traffic and another, and to give a pre-
mium to railway companies to cultivate one kind of traffic
in preference to another. In the second place, it is not only
wrong, but absurd, so give that particular premium in the
case of what we term excursion traffic, which, no doubt, is
very useful and valuable in its way, but, at the same time,
seems to be attended with considerable inconvenience and
considerable danger. (Cheers.) Far beit
from me to say
that Parliament should presume to discourage ora repressexcursion traffic, but we ought not to stimulate
it by direct pecuniary encouragement at the expense of the
general traffic of the country. (Hear.) The effect of this
singularly anomalous arrangement is, that while railways
are supposed to pay 5 per cent, on their receipts, they only
pay between 3 and 4 per cent., and in the case of some rail-
ways, which deal only in a particular kind of traffic, only 2
per cent.; and so far they give a fair subject for complaint
to competing interests. What we propose is this, to destroy
the exemption altogether and to commute the payment of 5
per cent. with exemptions into a payment of 3i per cent.
without exemptions. The result will be nearly the same. It
will be slightly in favour of the Treasury ; but we shall
establish a sound principle instead of an unsound principle,
and an equal state of things between rival interests. (Hear,
hear.)
We propose to assimilate the law in Ireland as to cha-
ritable legacies to the law of England. Charitable legacies
in Ireland at the present moment are insignificant, and do
not pay legacy duties. We shall repeal that exemption. This
connects itself with a more important subject, to which I
wish to invite attention. It is to the removal of an exemp-
tion in the Income-tax Acts, granted to charities and cor-
porations, with respect to such part of their lucerne as they
shall prove to have been expended in charity. The grounds
upon which this proposal rests are as follows, and I ear-
nestly hope and confidently expect it will receive the sanc-
tion of the house. In 1853 it was proposed to lay the sac-
cession duty on corporations. No legislation could be carried
in that year fir the purpose, al though I think the principle
Walk approved by the house. 1 think it was felt that there
waa noreason in the world why corporate property should
receive a premium at the expense of individuals ; because
it mil" be borne in mind that all these exenaption.e.mcan
non-payment by mamma at the cost of another. (Hear,
hear.) The consideration of the question of succession duty