The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-05 00:00:00

THE INCOME TAX

The CHAIRMAN then put the following resolution:_ " That, towards raising the supply granted to her Majesty,
there shall be charged, collected, and paid for one year,
commencing on the 6th day of April, 1865, for and in re-
spect of all property, profits, and gains mentioned or de-
scribed as chargeable in the Act passed in the 16th r.nd
17th years of her Majesty's reign, chapter. 34, for granting
to her Majesty duties on profits arising from property,pro-
fessions, trades, and offices, the following rates and duties
(that is to say)—For every 20s. of the annual value or
amount of all such property, profits,and gains (except those
chargeable under Schedule B of the said Act), the rate or
duty of 4d. And for and in respect of the occupation of
lands, tenements, hereditament; and heritages chargeable
under Schedule B of the said act, for every 20s. of the
annual value thereof—in England, the rate or duty of 2d..;
and in Scotland and Ireland respectively, the rate or thAty
of 11d. Subject to the provisions contained in section, 3of
the Act 26 Viet., chap. 22, for the exemption of rersons
whose whole income from every source is under £lOO a
year, and relief to those whose income is unfler
.c. 200 a

Mr. HUBBARD remarked that the inco•.ne tax was now
entering upon a new phase, and the time had arrived when
the house ought to consider with the utmost deliberation,
whether it ought to be retained as a part of the permanent
system of the taxation of the country.. The house should
consider whether it were desirable to go on gradually di-
minishing the direct taxes, and it ought to be constantly
borne in mind that personal property was at present only
reached by the legacy duty and the income tax. The latter
tax, however, as it was now levied, was so excessively un-
just in its action that it demoralised the community and
created a general feeling of abhorrence. He believed, how-
eyer, that if his right hon. friend the Chancellor of the
Exchequer would heartily apply his thoughts to the con-
struction of a just tax upon income, he would find that
one_ ne (Mr.
Hubbard) did not intend to move an amendment to the
resolution.

The resolution was then agreed to.
FIRE INSURANCE DUTIES.

The CHAIRMAN next put the following resolution :
" That, towards raising the supply granted to her Majesty,
and in lieu of the duties now payable in respect of insur-
ances against loss or damage by fire only, there shall be
charged, collected, and paid for the use of her Majesty, her
heirs and successors, the following duties (that is to say),
for and upon every policy of assurance or insurance, or
other instrument by whatever name the same shall be called,
whereby any insurance shall, on or before the 25th of June,
1865, be made of or upon any building, goods, wares, mer-
chandise, or other property from loss or damage by fire
only, the duty of ld. And for and upon any note or
memorandum given as a receipt on the deposit of any sum
of money, preparatory to the making out or issuing of any
such policy as aforesaid, the duty of Id. And for and in
respect of every such insurance as aforesaid, which shall
be made, or continued or renewed, on or after the said 25th
day of June, 1865, a duty of ls. 6d. for every £lOO insured
for a year, and at and after that rate for any fractional part
of £lOO insured, and for any fractional part of a year, as
well as for any number of years for which the insurance
shall be made, or continued, or renewed, but no fraction of
a penny shall be charged ; and when any such insurance
as aforesaid shall be made or renewed at any time between
the 27th day of April, 1865, and the said 25th day of June,
for any period of time extending beyond the said last-men-
tioned day, there shall be charged and paid for and in re-
spect of the time intervening between the making or re-
newing of the said insurance and the said 25th of June the
yearly per-tentage duty at and after the rate chargeable
on the said 27th day of April, and for and in respect of any
subsequent period including the said 25th day of June, the
rate of duty chargeable according to this resolution ; and
no return or allowance of duty, etcept at and after the
last-mentioned rate, shall be made in respect of time un-
expired or otherwise, on any such insurance as aforesaid
which shall have been made or renewed before the said
27th day of April, 1865."

Sir J. FERGUSSON moved as an amendment that the
reduced duties be levied on the 15th May instead of the
25th of June, as the latter date would cause great inconve-
nience in Scotland.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said it was
totally beyond his power to accede to the proposal of the
hon. baronet.

Mr. SHERIDAN said he understoodthat all persons who
had paid their insurances on the 25th March for the whole
year would, under this resolution, be entitled to claim from
the insurance offices, after the 25th June, the excess of the
duty which they had paid. Now, in many instances, the
duty had been already paid over to the Government, who
collected the duty quarterly, and he, therefore, wished to
ask the right hon. gentleman if he proposed to return the
money paid under such circumstances ? Some persons, he
might observe, had effected insurances five and even seven
years in advance.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he
proposed to follow the regulations of last year, otherwise
various questions which were then settled would again be
raised.

Mr. HUBBARD, while admitting that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer could not have been reasonably expected to
make a larger reduction in the fire insurance duty than he
had done for the present year, said it was obvious that ulti-
mately the whole duty must be taken off. It was impos-
sible to maintain a tax which discouraged the exercise of
prudence, and allowed exemptions in favour of persons
with large property.
Mr. F. POWELL pronounced the tax upon fire insurance
a blot upon our fiscal system, and a contradiction to the
enlightened principles of recent legislation. He hoped the
Chancellor of the Exchequer would soon see his way to
the entire removal of the tax.

Mr. AYRTON had often observed, that, while the
wealthier classes were remarkably astute in devising the
means of escaping from taxation, they were not equally
astute in discovering how the burden of taxation might be
more fairly adjusted. Ho believed the mass of the people
would after all be scarcely satisfied that the budget of
this year extended to them a fair share of remission from
taxation. To his view the remissions had been too much
in favour of property. And here he must confess that the
passage in the budget speech which gratified him most was
that in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced,
as the growing conviction of his mind, that the idea that
the income tax was not to become a part of the permanent
revenue of the country must be flung to the winds.

Sir F..CROSSLEY supported the budget, as he believed
it to be on the whole a good one ; but he thought that the
fire insurance duty would still be left a heavy tax, and that
the matter should not be considered as settled.

Mr. SHERIDAN, in reply to the hon. member for the
Tower Hamlets, held that the tax was no more a tax upon
property than was a bet on the Derby. It was a wager
between the insurer and the company, ls. 6d. to £lOO, and
though the event might never come off, it was not the less
a wager.

Mr. VANSIT TART asked whether those who paid the
duty at Christmas and Lady-day past would be entitled to
any return on the renewal of their policies ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—No.
The amendment was negatived without a division. The
original motion was then carried, and the Chairman was
ordered, amid the cheers of the committee, to report the
resolutions of the house. .

--------
CONSTABULARY FORCE (IRELAND) ACT
AMENDMENT BILL.
This bill was read a second time. The main object of the
bill is to provide a constabulary for the city of Belfastju
place of the present local police.
Mr. CARDWELL obtained leave to bring in a bill securing
to colonial governors retiring pensions, a
an— placing them
in this respect on the footing of other officers in the civil
service.

—Tilelsle of Man Disafforestation Bill was read a third
time and passed.

In committee on the Tories, Robbers, and Rapparees
(Ireland) Bill, an amendment to the first clause, moved by
Mr. HENNEssy, was agreed to.
The other business on the paper was disposed of, and
the house adjourned at 10 minutes past 11.

FOREIGN ARRIVALS.--The recent change of wind
from east to south-west has brought a large number of ves-
sels into the English Channel, in proof of Which on Tuesday
last there arrived in Falmouth no less than 112 ships from
foreign ports, the greatest number which has ever occurred
in a single day since it I?its been a port of call. They com-
prised no fewer than 16 different flags—viz., 35 English,
Austrian 15, Dutch 8, Bremen 5, Russian 4, Danish 5,
Mecklenburg 2, Norwegian 8, Swedish 2, Italian'lo, Hano-
verian 7, Prussian 3, Spanish 3, Hamburg 2, Portuguese
2, and Greek 1.

POTTER, THE MURDERER.—As at the time of the
reprieve of the convict, James Potter, it was thought
by some that the aberration of mind was only temporary
owing to the excitement of the trial, and the sentence of
death following thereon ; and that, with the quiet of an
asylum, he might come into his normal state again ; it
may not be uninteresting to our readers to hear the opinion
of the Superintendent Physician of the Broadmoo!- Crimi-
nal Lunatic Asylum, just now expressed in writing to a
gentleman in this neighbourhood :—" In his mental state
there is very little change—if anything he requires per-
haps now less watching than on admission. His condition
is that of muttering, incoherent imbecility—he is not
likely to recover from this condition."—Derby Mercury.