The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-19 00:00:00

INLAND REVENUE.

The annual report of the Inland Revenue Cooesnaa-
missioners is always of interest, giving as it d
view of the chief taxation of the country, for this
Board collect forty millions a year. In the year
ending with March, 1863, the Excise duties pro-
duced a net sum of £17,317,396, a decrease of
£957,904 as compared with the previous year. The
quantity of home-made spirits charged with duty
declined 184,958 gallons, but the duty still reached
the large sum of £9,399,707.• The consumption of
spirits in Ireland in 1838 was no less than 12,000,000
gallons, producing, by a 25. 4J. duty, a revenue of
£1,434,000; in 1862 the consumption was little
more than a third of that quantity, but the duty
tieing 10s. the revenue reached £2;000,000. The
consumption of spirits is at present temporarily de-
pressed by the distress in important districts of the
country ; but no doubt wine, beer, and tea are all
to a certain extent displacing spirits. Comparing
the years 1853 and 1862, it will be found that the
consumption of British spirits fell from 25,000,000
gallons to 19,760,000, but the consumption of wine
rose from 7,000,000 gallons to 9,800,000, of beer
from 17,700,000 barrels to 19,400,000, and of tea
from 58,800,0001 b. to 78,800,00016. The taxa-
tion oa these articles differs greatly ; on a
pint of beer it is a farthing, on a quarter of an
ounce of tea less than a farthing, but on a
glass of gin it is more than five farthings. The dis-
tillers find abroad some compensation for a lessened
demand at home. There was a large increase in
the export of British spirits last year to the West
Coast of Africa, to Italy, and to Turkey; with this
last country it is the creation of a new trade, and is
owing to the war in America having stopped the
supplies from that country. Passing next to the
item of malt, we find a decrease of £476,394 in the
produce of the duty; but it was not to be expected
that the quantity made last year would equal the
extraordinary amount of 1861; the barley of 1862
was in many districts of inferior qtsality for malt-
ing purposes. The hop duty, like the paper duty,
is .no more, but the alteration in brewers' licences
has brought an addition of £223,870 to the revenue.
The licence duty produced the large sum of
£1,910,150. Auctioneers paid £47,540; wine re-
tailers, £11,226; and the 5,154 licences taken for
refreshment houses brought £4,475. Proceeding
now to the second great branch of inland re-
venue namely, stamps, the net produce of
which rose £386.206, and amounted to £8,966,803,
we find the probate duty advancing to £1,325,359,
the legacy and succession tax to £2,374,436, and
duty on fire insurance to £1,580,637. The fees paid
the Divorce Court (the payment being by stamps)
amounted to only £2,420. The duty do playing-
cards has been reduced from ls. to 3d. a pack, in
the hope of suppressing the enormous evasion of the
tax, The third and last branch of the inland re-
venue—land, assessed, and income taxes—pro-
duced last year .£13,626f549. The net receipt of
income-tax on schedule D fell from £3,263,926 in
the preceding year to £3,233,766, but the whole
tax showed an increase of £11,381. In 1861 there
was a fresh assessment under schedule A and B,
the previous assessment having been continued
generally since 1857. The assessment of land was
increased £1,982,000 (comparing 1861 with 1860),
of houses £3,976,000, of railways £851,000, and
under schedule B the assessment was increased
£1,717,000 in England alone. The assessed profits
of trade and professions in the United Kingdom
were £94,739,000 in 1860, and £99,372,000 in 1861;
the increase in Westminister was from £3,619,000 to
£4,081,000, arising, in a great measure, from more
correct charges on the west-end tradesmen and on
persons making enormous profits by public enter-
tainments and exhibitions. In the city of London
the assessments rose only slightly, from £15,405,000
to £15,578,000—an amount considered strangely
below its proper rank as a contributor to the in

come tax. A comparison in regard to the whole tax
may be advantageously made by taking 1842 and
1852, in which years the area of taxation was limited

to incomes of £l5O and upwards, and 1853 and
1861, when the area of taxation extended to incomes
of £lOO a year. Between 1842 and 1852 the aver-

age annual increase in value was only 1.13 per
cent. ; between 1853 and 1861 it was 2.8`) per
cent. Deducting from the assessment in 1861 the
amount charged in respect of incomes under 1300 a

year, so as to get a fair comparison with 1842, the
increase in the assessment of 1861 was 31 per cent.
over 1842. On lands the increase in the assessment

was 10,85 per cent; houses, 50.4 per cent; mines,
109.32 per cent ; on iron works, 93.02 per cent ; on
railways 439.28 per cent. The profits of trades and
professions charged in 1852 were only 1.70 per cent.
higher than those of 1842, the average annual in-

crease being but 0.17 per cent; but the profits of
1861 exceeded those of 1853 by 19.33 per cent, the

annual rate of increase in this last period being
2.42 per cent.

MARKETS—This Day.

MARK-LANE.
A moderate supply of new English wheat was on sale
here, to-day, in good and fine condition. Both for red and
white qualities there was a fair demand, at Monday's de-
cline in the quotations of 3s. to 4s. per quarter.
There was a full average supply of foreign wheat on the
stands. The amount of business transacted was very
moderate, yet no further change took place in prices.
Floating cargoes of grain moved off slowly, at late rates.
The show of new home-grown barley was small, and
with old and foreign parcels, the market was scantily sup-
plied. The trade, however, ruled inactive, at, Monday's
currency.
Malt changed hands to a limited extent, at late quo-
tations.

A fair average supply of oafs was on sale, and the trade
ruled heavy, at barely stationary prices.
No change took place in the value of beans and peas ; but
the demand for them was in a sluggish state.
The top price of town-made flour was 43s per 2801bs.
Country marks and American barrels sold heavily, on
rather easier terms.

ARRIVALS THIS WEER.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flout.
English 340 17a I 410 •
210
Irish.. — 7 BO 7BO
°reign.-- 7,710 J 3,040 1 000 14,310 brls
and 70 sackr,