The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-19 00:00:00

think it far better-fa, more in accordance with our own
obligations, and far ,:iore likely to auvai.e:.: +e i 3 o:
the country-that we should present to you what we
think-and I will tell why we think it by and by-a real
substantive plan-(hear, hear),-under which the income
tax may, if Parliament shoull think fit, bo got rid of, than
that we should come with some paltry proposal to shirk
the difficulty by re-enacting it for two years, or re-enacting
it for one year, and thereby prolonging the uncertainty
and dissatisfaction, and giving rise not only to doubts as
to the position of the tax, but as to the perfect good faith
of-Parliament in dealing with the country. (Hear, hear.)
Now, Sir, we think that the descending rates which we
have embodied in the proposal for the renewal of the tax
will tend to show Parliament and the country that our in-
tention to part with it, or, at all events, our intention to
Put Parliament in 1860 in a condition to part with it, is a
real bona fide intention. (Hear, hear.) But you will say
-and say justly-that that intention does not of itself put
Parliament in a condition to part with the tax,-that it is
very well to say that it shall, for two years, remain at 7d.
in the pound,--that for two years more it shall be 6d., and
for three years more sd. ; but that when it comes to sd.
We may find that there is still a deficiency, and that you
again want the 7d., or that when you come to the end of
the period for sd. in the pound you may find you cannot
Part with it. (Hear hear.) With respect to this objection
I have to say, that 'before the close of ray present state-
ment I shall endeavour to give you full satisfaction on that
Point ; and I will further venture to s;y that, whatever
You may think of the plan I have to propose, no gentlem- n
in the committee will think that the Government are pal-
tering with the House of Commons, or that I am not pre-
senting a proposal which is at any rate substantive and
ietelligible. (Hear hear.) I say, Sir, that our principles
with respect to the income tax (which' is the corner stone
ef our whole financial plan), our principles with respect to
the income tax required of us these things :-In the first
Place, to mark it effectually as a temporary tax ; in the
second place, to meet, in a way which we think good and
effectual, the public feeling with respect to the inequality
of the tax
,• and I will explain how we mean to do this by
and by. beyond this, I wish to ask-and this is the
important question to which I wish to call the attention
of Parliament-if you determine to renew the income tax
Will you make its early extinction your first and sole object,
ur will you, in order to bring-to completion the noble work
9f commercial reform which is far advanced, associate the
income tax once more with a remission of duties, exten-
sive in itself and beneficial to the community ? We have
c.onsidered fully these two questions ; and we have
decided deliberately in favour of the second. (Hear.)
While we propose to renew the income tax, we pro-
Pose to associate it during the years which it has still to
ran with a great and beneficial remission of taxes. (Hear,
rear.) But the statement which I have already made with
,fpect to the surplus is one not a;together promising in
revect. He would be an ingenious minister of finance
;Who should found an extensive remission of taxation on a
Italitis as of 84:l°,°"•, 200,0001. or 300,0001., of which he re-
uncertain. If we are to propose a remission. of
!taxes we must have funds out of which to make the remits-
mu This is of course an elementary truth, but lam sorry
(.° saY et hat it is not wholly useless to impress it upon the
tiiL°llB6' it
We have, therefore, to consider-and
now aboulue invidious
part
Ze' Sir, is +l,
of my task, upon which I
to enter-we have now to consider what are
the paeans o to us, in consistency with justice, for
Creating
sm.ei a fund which, in conjunction with our present
lietis, we can apply to an extensive and beneficial re-
,. this-if
of taxes. Now, the first question which is raised
'1 the income tax, is to be continued, shall it also be
enftended? (Hear, hear.) And the view of of the Govern-
in ent is this- that the late Administration were right
stating that, if the income tax was to be continued,
the exemptions under it should be narrowly considered-
:Tar, hear and therefore we are prepared to deal with
re question of exemptions. (Hear, hear.) What, in the
Cot place, let me ask, is the case of persons enjoying in-
ln" immediately below 1501. per annum ? There may
he
these who say
that it is dangerous to attempt to levy
that in come tax on incomes below 1501.; but it is my opinion
the safety of the measure depends in a great degree-
• may say mainly-on it s justice ; and if you can show that
is required byslustice to other classes, and that it would
oe advantageous fie the country, and even to the parties them-
°elves who would be immediately affected by it, I am not
afraid, with the confidence I entertain in. the feelings of
the English people, that there would be any danger attach-
ing to such a measure. (Hear.) Thera were apprehensions,
we know, entertained in 1842 that the imposition of the
income tax in any shape would be found unpopular ; but
the sense of justice and enlightened prudence of the people,
appreciating as they did the great benefit achieved by its
instrumentality, divested it, if not of the unpopularity,
certainly of the odious character, which it was thought
Might generally have attached to it. (Hear, hear.) Well,
ezlow, what is the case of persons enjoying incomes below
4501. ? It is well known that persons of that class have
• very largely benefitted by the measures consequent on the
income tax up to the present time. (Hear, hear.) Twelve
millions of taxes have been remitted, and they have
enjoyed their full share of this without the charge of one
farthing. (Hear, hear.) I don't propose that we should
carry the tax down to the regions where it would trench
on labour. To my view it is a right and expedient
principle-taking in connexion with it all the circum-
stances of the case-that we should not trench upon what
I would call the territory of labour. That territory will
probably be defined sufficiently for my purpose by the
figure of 1001. a-year ; and what lam saying now has
reference to the case of incomes between 1001. and 1501.
Their case is, that they have enjoyed up to the present
time the full benefit of the remission of the 12,000,0001. of
taxes to which I have referred. But that is not all. If
we were going to continue the income tax for a short
period without any compensating advantage, then, indeed,
it might not be expedient that I should ask you to extend
it to a lower amount than at present ; but I am going, be-
fore I conclude, to ask you to support the Government in
enacting a great and beneficial remission of taxes ; and I
gay, before you confer that great additional benefit, let us
consider whether the results of our plan can be distributed
equitably among the various classes of the community. I
will present to the committee what I think they will con-
sider some interesting results with respect to the past
operation of our recent legislative remissions. With a
*view to the decision of the question which I am now
opening, it appeared to me a matter of extreme interest to
•eollect a number of bona fide cases of the distribution of
.the expenditure of particular families receiving different
rates of income, making the proportion in which they had
each profited by the adoption of the income tax and the
teleasures connected with it. My right hon. friend the
headhis
of the Poor-law Board (Mr. Baines), kindly lent me
nis Most effective aid, and we have collected a body of in-
telligence of the kind which I am now about to present to
the committee. I shall not trouble you with the details, but
merely give the general results of a few bona fide cases of
actual expenditure, and I believe they are fair average
cases, which will exhibit the actual savings which have
been realised by persons whose incomes are below
and also by those whose incomes are above 1501.,
intanrsee--
quence of the adoption of the income tand of
Mission of taxes and changes in our conlmercial system
which were brought about through its medium. But it
should be recollected that, in estimating the savings, I
have taken credit for the further remissions which I have
promised as well as for those which have already taken place.
I
have collected six cases of incomes varying from 1751., to
4001. a-year ; and, after taking credit for all their savings,
and fairly putting down the various items which go to
make up their incomes, I find that their gross incomes
amount to 1,3591., and their gross savings to 631. ls. 3d.,
making a saving of above 5 per cent. on the gross amount
of their incomes ' • and even if you deduct the income tax
Which they paid there will still remain a saving of 221.165.
60. or nearly 2 per cent. upon their incomes. This, I
think, is not an unsatisfactory result which I have pre-
sented to the committee. (Cheers.) But I have likewise
tout four cases of the actual expenditure of persons with
incomes between 1001. and 1501., and these, the committee
should understand, are not cases which have been selected
fez' the purpose of arriving at a particular result, but are
eases which have been fairly and honestly collected for the
Purpose of showing the actual distribution Of the expendi-
ture of the two classes to which I have referred. One is
the Case of a country tradesman with 1201. per annum ; the
seeped is the case of a retired Liverpool tradesman
(six children) with 1201. per annum ; the third is the case
iof,,,s,a widow in the country with an income of from 1201. to
(say 135/. per annum) ; and the fourth is the case of a
Clerk in a country town with 100/. per annum ; making
a total income of 4751., and their gain has been 291.65.
.41(1., or between 6an 7 per cent. Deducting iucome
tax at the rate of sd. d
in the pound, the savings would
amount to 191. 95., or more than 4 per cent. So that
3" see clearly from this that the persons with in-
between 100/. and 1501. have apparently profited
,03- the change in our legislation to a greater extent
than those with incomes above 1501. (Hear, hear.) I ought
hapsaY that in estimating the savings I have endeavoured to
ki_eep strictly within the bounds of moderation, and that I
strictly
doubt that the results could easily have been
swelled if we had chosen. Now, Sir, it appears to us that
these facts offer a rather strong reason for considering
Whether, when we propose to renew the income tax in the
case of persons with incomes above 1501., it is not de-
Mended by justice that we should expect that persons with
incomes below 1501. should moderately become sharers in
the burden. (Hear, hear.) Her Majesty's Government
think that in justice we ought to do so. (Hear, hear.)
What we propose is this-we propose so far to complicate
the tax as to introduce a provision that incomes between
1001, and 1501. shall be liable at the rate of sd. in the
pound for-the whole time during which the tax is levied,
so that, for the first two years, incomes above 1501. will
pay 7d. in the pound, and incomes below 1501. sd. ; for
the next two years, the one will pay 6cl. and the other 5d.,
and for the following three years both classes will alike pay
at the rate of sd. in the pound. I estimate that this tax
of sd. on incomes from 1001. to 1501. will produce 250,000 e,
but as it will not be levied till the latter half of the present
Year, the sum of 125,0001. only will come to credit in the
financial year of 1852-54. (Hear.) I now come to another-
great question-the exemption of Ireland. (Hear.) Tee_
land, in like manner, has received the benefit of the income
tax through the changes in our fiscal system but at the
sanie time the equivalent which was intended to be taken
has not been exacted. That equivalent was twofold. In
the first place it consisted of a duty upon spirits of ls. a
gallon, which was abandoned almost as soon as it was
enacted. In the second place it consisted of an augmenta-
tion of the stamp duties-which augmentation was indeed
levied for two years ; but in 1850 my right hon. friend the
President of the Board of Control (Sir C. Wood) made a
treat reduction in the stamp duties both of this country
and of Ireland, and in that reduction disappeared the in-
l'ease which was enacted in Ireland as an equivalent for
e income tax. lam not able to speak with absolute pre-
cision, but as nearly as we can make out, it would appear
that, the rate at which Ireland pays stamp duties on her
transactions is as nearly as possible, on an average, the
throe as it was in 1812. (Hear, hear.) It is, indeed, true
et'at since theft rst enactment of the income tax Ireland
'as been visited with an awful calamity, and although that
still
has been mercifully withdrawn, yet traces of it
till remain in many social and economical forms-(hear,
hear), and especially in the form of a very heavy and bur-
tneusonae debt. (Hear.) That is but a fraction, indeed,
to ?f the generous aid accorded by the pe Parliament
thed .necessities of Ireland, but at hemtme time it cannot
_ll emed that it is a very heavy and enduring burden, not
Ireland% generally, but on its most distressed parts.
t those who look at Ireland cannot avoid being struck
CertainlY tbe fact that all Ireland is not alike-that there are
full districts that do not need to shrink from their
plea taxation-and which have no reasonable claim or
_to offer for exemption. (Hear, hear.) Let me
re-
,lslsli the committee what exemption means. (Hear hear.)
means that we have not got a bottomless parse, and that
We caanot dispense exemptions to one man without in-
jeux.elct another ; that the exemption of one man means the
7.,"ra taxation of another aud exemption of one country
the extra taxation of another.- (Hear, hear.) And as this
applies to changes in the income tax g:eneraly, s.o it applies
;`)r Ireland relatively to England. What we think, there-
idrcra, itsiethhaiththeee case of Ireland demands very special con-
ration with the burdens that have been
icaPeeed on her, to which I will say more by
d bye, as a sequel orreesoPerecllary to the present branch of
Y eubject? but, in the meantime I ave to say that we see
° l'eaaon Why the come tax should not bQ levied on Ire-