The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-20 00:00:00

REDUCTION OF TAXATION.

It gives us satisfaction to find that the useful speech of
Mr. Spring Rice, delivered on the 16th ult., in vindica•
tion of the financial measures of the Whig Government,
has been published in the form of a cheap and very port-
able pamphlet. It affords the best answer yet produced to
the question—what reduction has the present Ministry
effected? To quote largely from a speech of financial and
arithmetical detail would he unsuitable to the taste of most
people. We therefore confine ourselves to a few of the
concluding passages :
" Before I proceed further, I must again remind the
House that we have made these reductions on an expendi-
ture—capable of economical review—of 15,000,0001. ;
and that there has been, as I have before stated, a redt:c•
tion effected to the extent of 3,000,0001. I cannot, how-
ever, conclude, in justice to the subject, without fixing the
attentio❑ of the House upon the fact, that every fraction
of these reductions, and indeed somewhat more than their
whole amount, has been applied to the diminution of the
taxation of the people of England. There has been no
part of it kept hack for the purpose of bolstering up an
artificial system of finance or a sham sinking fund ; nor,
as it appears to me, has it been kept up for any other pur-
pose with which gentlemen have a right to quarrel. The
reduction in the amount of the expenditure may be said,
in round numbers, to amount to 3,000,000/. The whole of
that gum, I repeat, and something more, has been applied
to the reduction of the taxation of the country. here I
must be permitted to say that the Hon. Member for the
city of Dublin (Mr. Ruthven) and other Hon Gentlemen,
in considering these questions, would do well to look to the
bright as well as to the dark side of the picture, rather
than exclusively to press on public attention, night after
night, those parts only of every subject which are calcu-
lated to excite dissatisfaction and discontent. It is not
acting justly towards the public, the Government, or this
House, thus to exclude all the more cheering and gratify-
ing considerations, stating, and allowing it to be stated and
repeated without contradiction, that nothing has been done,
when, in point of fact, the vast reductions to which 1 have
taken the liberty of adverting, have already been achieved.
I put it to those gentlemen who have sat in this House in
former Parliaments, if they had been told, when we took
office in November, 1830, that in the course of two ses-
sions reductions to the extent of 3,000,000/. could have
been effected, and that a corresponding amount of taxation
could have been reduced without endangering the public
credit, whether they must not have admitted that although
such would he a consummation devoutly to be wished,' yet
that it was one infinitely exceeding all their hopes and
expectations.
[Here Mr. Hume entered the house.]
" Mr. SPRING rejoice that nay Hon. Friend
is at length come to his place. I have appealed to my
Hon. Friend's authority in his absence; I can assure him
that I did so with all due respect ; and that my argument
has not illustrated the French proverb,that the absent are
always considered in the wrong ; indeed, it is almost in-
dispensably necessary to appeal to his authority, when a
question of economy is brought under consideration. The
House knows that in the absence of my Hon. Friend I
have given the fullest credit to the exertions he has made.
In his absence I paid him the highest possible tribute of
approval, by erecting him into an actual standard of value,
by which I endeavoured to estimate the value of the public
services of nay friends. I took my Hon. Friend's state-
ment in 1821 as the terminus a quo from which all my
reasonings were to spring. I now repeat my argument
that he may contradict me if lam in error. In a speech
which the Hon. Gentleman made in June, 1821, he de-
tailed the various reductions which he thought practicable,
Those reductions amounted to 3,238,0001., which would
have reduced the expenditure to 18,849,140/. The ex-
penditure of the country has now been reduced below the
amount which my Hon. Friend took as the measure of his
economy. In his speech the Hon. Gentleman spoke of a
reduction in the expenses of collecting the revenue ; in
these expenses reductions of more than half a million had
been effected. If, then, the Hon. Member for Middlesex
wishes to act justly by his Majesty's Government, and by
this House, he will not argue (as some Hon. Gentlemen
have done), and he must not make statements, as if eve
had forgotten our economical pledges.
" One observation I omitted to make during the ab-
eence of my Hon. Friend. In those days my Hon.
Friend was Member for Montrose. I very much rejoice
to see my Hon. Friend represent the county of Middlesex,
although I cannot help thinking that, when he was the
Member for Montrose, his arguments were, in some re-
spects, founded on better reasoning and sounder principles
of political economy. My Hon. Friend then said, that if
the reductions for which we contended could he carried
into effect, he should recommend—what will the House
think ?—the repeal of the house and window tax, the
stamp on newspapers, or some of those other taxes of
which be now complains? No, Sir, the Hon. Gentleman
was then a good political economist, and the reductions in
taxa:ion which he wished at that time to effect, were re-
ductions in the taxes on soap, candles, leather, and salt.
Now, Sir, I say that, on that occasion, my Hon. Friend
contended for the sound principles of taxation, because he
recommended a reduction in taxes which were the most
expensive in their collection, which operated as restraints
on trade, and which pressed most severely upon the
poorer classes, and on the productive industry of the
country.
" A paper fo: which I moved a few months ego, show-
ing the amount of taxes repealed within the list 19 years,
h a been put, for some time past, in circulation. The
abstract is as follows:

.- -
AMOUNT OF TAXES REPEALED, EXPIRED, OR REDUCED

ritom 1814 TO 1832.
Gross. Net.
Customs £8,990,205 £8,820,526
Excise
Stamps
Taxes 18,680,017 18,242,675
Post.ottice 130,000 130,000

£ 4:2,345,529 £39,931,1

Add taxes proposed to be repealed in/ 1,545,000
1833 ss

Total
£41,476,856
5,813,118
Deduct taxes imposed

Actual amount of relief given £55,663,738
" From this paper it appears that taxation, to no less an
amount than 35,663,0001., has been repealed between the
year 1814 and the year 1833 ; this enormous sum being
more than double the total income of 1792—an amount
which has, I am convinced, astonished the public, and I
am confident that scarcely any reflecting man could, in
1814, have ventured to expect the possibility of so great a
sacrifice of revenue. Of this sum I proceed to state the
amount of reduction made by my Noble Friend beside me:--.
RELIEF FROM TAXATION PROPOSED IN 1831 AND 1832.
Printed Goods £550,000
Coals and Slates 9iio,ooo
Candles
Hemp, Drugs, &c 140,000

2,090,000
Deduct impost on Cotton Wool... 300,000

Total relief £1,790,000
FURTHER RELIEF PROPOSED BY TILE CHANCELLOR OP
THE EXCHEQUER DURING THE PRESENT SESSION•
Tiles... 37,000
Marine lnsuraneei
Advertisements
Asse.sedTaxes aiiiinauiing Stock 440,000
Cotton Wool 300,000
Soap 593,000
1,545,000
"It is thus shown that the following faireSiCt°ae4e)n the
measures of relief introduced by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer :
Printed Cottons repealed.
Coals and Slates, repealed.
Candles, repealed.
Hemp, reduced.
Drugs, reduced.
Tiles, reduced.
Marilie Insurances, reduced.
Advertisement duty, reduced one-half.
Fire Insurances on Farming Stock, repealed.
Small Receipt Stamps, repealed.
Land Tax on Personal Estates, repealed.
Soap Duty, reduced one-half.
Cotton Wool, reduced.
Duty on Pamphlets, repealed.
House Tax on Shops, reduced one-half.
Duty on Travellers, or Riders, repealed.
Tax on Clerks, Bookkeepers, Office-men, repealed.
Tax on Overseers, Managers, repealed.
Tax on Shopme n, Warehousemen,sed Cvelilcatruma
Leiner, repealed.reduced
Duty on Taxcd Carts, repealed.
Horse Tax, payable by Market Gardeners, repealed,
one,H-half.Tax, payable hY-
TIX on Houses of 101. value, reduced one-third.
Tax on Houses from 101. to 181. value, a progressive
reduction.

The remarks in the Times of Friday re-
specting Mr. Abel Smith were intended to apply to Mr.
John Abel Smith, the gentleman who seconded Mr.
Loyd's resolutions in the meeting of Bank proprietors on
Tuesday last. Mr. John Abel Smith is the nephew of
Mr. Abel Smith. We take this opportunity of remarking/
that both this gentleman and Mr. Loyd, at the Bank
meeting yoterday, apologized in a very manly and hand-
some manner fur the extraordinary vehemence of their
larL:uage on Tuesday last.— Times.