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

replacing the loss occasioned by remission. (Hear, hear.)
We assume that what has happened before will happen
again • that these remissions of indirect taxation, which.
are analagous with the remissions which have been made
heretofore, will, as these former remissions have done, re-
place themselves in about the same time— (hear, hear)—
and I therefore assume that, so far as these remissions are
concerned, you will, by the expiration of the income tax,
find these taxes very nearly in amount what they now are.
I will not enter into the question of what taxes you may
think proper to repeal or reduce in the interval. It is suffi-
cient for me to provide for the remissions which I now pro-
pose, and in the proposition of which I do not invite you
to undermine, but on the contrary, I ask you to increase
the stability of the financial system of the country. (Cheers.)
Well, then, how are we to attain a rational prospect of
being able to part with the income tax in 1860? The
country after so many announcements that have been made
to it from time to time That the income tax was to be
parted with, has become, doubtless, incredulous on the sub-
ject, and may, perhaps, conceive that we are aiming at a
fictitious and undeserved popularity when we seek to show
that by the effect of indirect taxation Ire can enable the
house to supersede the income tax ; but the statements be-
fore the committee, the committee and the country can
form their own judgment on them. (Hear, hear-) The
amount of the income tax, as we have it now, is 5,556,9001.
—this amount will be increased, as I have proposed, by ti:e
addition of 590,000/. The gross amount, therefore, of this
duty, so increased, will be 6,140,0001. I will not enter into
a detail of its composition, and of the descending rates,
but, taking the tax at 6,140,0001., let us inquire in what
condition Parliament will stand with referenee to the part •
ing with so large a sum of money. It will stand thus :—ln
the first place there will be, as additions to the permanent
sources of income—legacy duty, 2,000,000/. ; spirits,
436,0001.; licenses, 113,0001.; ma ng a total of 2,549,000/.
towards the fund which we must provide in order to put
Parliament in a position, if it should so think fit, to pert
with the income tax. (Hear, hear.) Well, then, we come
to the anticipated reductions of charge, which of course
will be as effectual to the purpose in view as positive jam.
tions to the revenue. (Hear, hear.) The first of these re-
ductions of charge is that on the Three-and-a-Quarter per
Cents., which we owe to the wise'measures of the right hon.
member for Cambridge in 1842 ; that will bring to the
account 624,0001. Bad as is our case with regard to the
national debt, and loath as I am to encourage extravagant
expectations in that quarter, yet it must be recollected that
by the regular application of surpluses, and by the lapse
of annuities, we in a small way operate from year to year,
both on the capital debt and on the charge. (Hear, hear.)
Look back for the last 11 years, and you will find that
since 1842 we have reduced the charge of the national
debt, irrespective of greater operations, by 80,0001. per
annum. I will assume this to continue, assuming, at the
same time, that whatever the pressure upon our finances,
and whoever may, hold the reins of Government, that we
shall always think it one of our main public duties—the
very first of our duties—to make ample provision for
the efficiency of the public service and the credit and
honour of the country. (Hear, hear.) I will assume, I
say, that we shall continue to have the same fund appli-
cable to the yearly reductionof the charge which we have
had heretofore, and taking this at 80,0001. per annum for
the eight years up to 1861, this will give you a sum of
640,0001. Adding this reduction of charge, which may be
reasonably expected, to the sums to be created by the new
means of taxation—which latter I have stated to be
2,549,0001.—we shall have an aggregate total of 3,813,0001.
Then, in 1859-60, there come falling in the heavy burdens
of the Long Annuities and of another large portion of our
terminable annuities, which together will operate a relief
of 2,146,0001. Adding this amount to the sum of
3,813,600/., which I have already stated, you will find
that, between the additional sources from taxation, and
the reduction of charge which will accrue in the interval,
and the falling in of the Long and other Annuities at the
expiration of the period I have named, there will be an
available increase of means at the disposal of Parliament,
should the present plan of the Government be adopted, to
no less an amount than 5,959,000/., against the 6,140,0001.
of income tax, which will be the total amount of that tax
at that period. (Cheers.) Thus, if the committee has
followed me, they will understand that we stand on the
principle that the income tax ought to be marked as a
temporary measure (hear, hear) ; that the public feeling
that relief should be given to intelligence and skill as com-
pared with property, ought to be met and may be met ;
that the income tax in its operation ought to be mitigated
by every rational means compatible with its integrity, and
above all that it should be associated in the last term of
its existence, as it was in the first, with those remissions
of indirect taxation which have so greatly redounded to
the profit of this country, and have set so admirable an
example—an example that has already in some quarters
proved contagious to the other nations of the earth. (Hear,
hear.) These are the principleson which we stand, and the
figures. I have shown you that if you grant us the taxes
Which we ask, the moderate amount of 2,500,0001. in the
whole, a much less than that sum for the present year, you
or the Parliament which may be in existence in 1860, will
be in the condition, if you so think fit, to part with the
income tax. (Hear, hear.) lam almost afraid to look at the
clock— (cheers)—shamefully reminding me, as it must, how
long I have trespassed on the time of the house. (Cheers.)
All I can say in apology is, that I have endeavoured to
keep closely
had before me
"—immensum spatiis confecimus 93quor,
Et to the topics which I
jam tempus equum fumantio solvere cella."
These are the proposals of the Government. They may be
confidence that it will be admitted that we have not sought
approved, or they may be condemned, but I have this full
to evade the difficulties of the position—(hear)—that we have
not concealed those difficulties eitherfrom ourselves or from
others—that we have not attempted to counteract them by
narrow orflimsy expedients—(hear)—that we have prepared
plans which, if you will adopt them, will go some way to
close up many vexed financial questions, which, if not now
settled, may be attended with public inconvenience, and
even with public danger, in future years and under less fa-
vourable circumstances—(hear)—that we have endeavoured,
in the plans we have now submitted to you, to make the
path of our successors in future years not more arduous,
hut mere
easy—(hear)—and Im..y he p.rmittod to add, th.t.
while we have sought to do justice by the changes we pro-
pose in taxation, to intelligence, and skill, as compared with
property, while we have sought to do justice to the great
labour community of England by furthering their relief
from indirect taxation, we have not been guided by any de-
sire to put one class against another. We have felt we
should best maintain our own honour, that we should best
meet the views of Parliament, and best promote the inter-
ests of the country, by declining to draw any invidious dis-
tinction between class and class, by adopting it to ourselvs
as a sacred aim to diffuse and distribute the burdens if we
must—and the burdens, i f we can—with equal andimpar-
tial hand; and we have the consolation of believing that
by proposals such as these we contribute, as far as in us
lies, not only to develope the material resources of the
country, but to knit the various parts of this great nation
yet more closely than ever to that throne and to those in-
stitutions under which it is our happiness to live. The
right hon. gentleman resumed his seat amid loud, long-
continued, and general cheering.
The CHAIRMAN having read the resolutions which had
been put into his hands by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Mr. DISRAELI asked on what day the right hon. gentle.
man proposed to take the discussion on them ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that he
should lay the whole of the resolutions on the table, and
proposed to have the discussion on them on Monday next,
taking the income tax first, the legacy duty next, and the
spirit duties third.

Mr. HUME said that the speech of the right hon.gentle-
man was so extensive that it was impossible, without some
consideration, to weigh its disadvantages and its advan-
tages. There was this great point about the statement,
that it manifested the determination to carry out the
principles of free trade, but he deeply regretted the manner
in which the question of the income tax had been taken up.
He was satisfied that the taxation of the country would
never be placed on a proper footing until a property tax to
a large extent, and justly regulated, became a permanent
source of revenue. From such a tax eight or nine millions
a-year might be easily raised. He regretted, too, that any
increased taxation should have been proposed, considering
as he did the expenditure which gave rise to that increased
taxation worse than useless. (Hear.) He thought con-
tinuing a tax for nine years was almost making it a per-
petuity without giving the house the advantages of de-
ciding whether or not it should be so. If they were
to add to the taxation, he must express his regret that
they had not adopted a simple, easp, and possible mode of
raising the required amount of revenue without one-tenth
of the difficulties which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had felt in his budget.
Mr. FREWEN hoped the right hon. gentleman would
give some explanation of what he meant to do with the
land tax.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
under the present system, they might redeem a given
amount of land tax, by transferring to the Commissioners
of the National Debt as much stock as would produce a di-
vidend the amount of the land tax and ten per cent. more.
What he proposed was, that instead of being bound to give
as much stock as would produce the amount of land tax and
10 per cent. more, they might redeem it by giving as much
stock as would produce the duty less 74 per cent. ; that
was, altogether, 17i per cent, less than at present.
Mr. BALL had been prepared to receive the budget of
the right hon. gentleman with very great approbation, but
ho received it with deep regret, and should do all he could
to induce the house to vote against it when it came regu-
larly before them. When the corn laws were repealed, it
was expected that some relief would be given to the agri-
culturists, and he was exceedingly surprised, therefore, that
the right hon. gentleman had neglected to afford them the
relief of the repeal of the malt tax. As to the reduction
of the duty on tea, the poorer classes would derive no be-
nefit from it, for it had been ascertained that the greater
part of the tea that was consumed was purchased in quan-
tities from a quarter of an ounce to a quarter of a pound.
The late Government was wrecked on the budget of the
right hon. gentleman below him, and it was not unlikely
the present Government might be wrecked from the same
cause.

Mr. MAGUIRE understood that, as to the advertisemen,
duty in England, there was to be a remission of is., so that
it would be 6d. only, instead of ls. 6d. But the advertise-
ment duty in Ireland was but ls. He should wish, there-
fore, to know what the duty was to be in future. In Ire-
land there was no such thing as a supplement to a paper
known, and he believed that even in London, too, the Times
alone published a supplement.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was under-
stood to say, that, with respect to the advertisementatthedsuamtye,
he was willing to compound for it in Ireland
amount as in this country.
Mr. COBDEN wished to know whether the right hon.
gentleman proposed to remit the stamps on all supplements,
or whether he meant to put the stamp on supplements with
news.
The CHANCELLGR of the EXCHEQUER said the re-
mission of the stamp would not extend to supplements that
were simply an extension of newspapers.
Mr. COBDEN—Did the right hon. gentleman mean that
supplements might go by post ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—CertainIy.
Mr. COBDEN believed that there was but one news-
paper in the kingdom that published a supplement full of
advertisements.
Mr. HUME wished the Government would take into
their consideration this absurdity—that ships built with
foreign timber might be brought into this country free of
d ithuty, but timber to build ships hero cannot be brought in
wout paying duty.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was ex-
tremely sorry to say his want of means, and not his want
of will, prevented him from taking off the timber duty. If
his hon. friend would give him 300,0001. or 400,0001. more.
he might be able to do so. (A laugh.)
Mr. HUME said, that if the
levied it would give 10,000,0001.7perty tax was fairly
and would enable the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to take off the timber duty,
and do much more.
The house then resumed, and the Chairman reported
progress, and asked leave to sit again.
SOUTH SEA AND OTHER ANNUITIES COMMU-

On the order of the dayTATION forBILL the second reading of this
bill,