The Sun.
London, England, 1802-04-06 00:00:00

THE TAXES

by which he proposed to provide the means of rais-
ing the Supply.

MALT, HOPS, AND BEER.

The first Tak he had to propose was a Tax
on Malt and Beer ; or rather,, he should say,
on Malt, Hops, and Beer—On Malt, one shil_
ling and a farthing per bushel; on Hops, zd.l4-.
and 8-zoths per pound, to make it, 3d. He pro-
posed to repeal the present allowance to the Com-
mon Brewers, granted when Lord NORTH was
Chancellor of the Exchequer ; an allowance was
then made, in the nature of a drawback, of is.
4d. This he should propose to repeal. He should
propose two shillings per barrel on strong Beer,
subjed to a drawback, this year, of sixpence, in
consequence of the difficulties with which the
trade had to contend, and would have to contend.
The effea of this additional duty, on each barrel of
Beer, would be the next year ss. I id. but (luting
the present year, ss. sd. He was willing to hope,
that this Tax would be as little liable to objeetion as
any, or at least, that the objedions would not be
such as would deter the Committee from voting the
Resolution which he should propose on that head of
Taxes ; not that he meant to say the interest of
the Brewer ought not to be considered, certainly it
ought, and he trusted it would appear that he had
considered it, and this he believed would be mani-
fest, when the Committee came to consider the dif-
ference between the price of Barley at this moment,
and that of some time ago. He was aware of the
very general opinion which prevailed when the
Brewers raised the price of their Strong Beer to
4-1-d. per pot, in consequence of the high price of
Malt, and an erroneous opinion it was. He was
aware also that the Brewers should not he placed in
a situation wherein they could not stand the com-
petition of private brewing, or in which the trade
of a common Brewer might be materially injured ;
he hoped there would be no just foundation for
complaint in that particular, on the part of the com-
mon Brewer. The private individual was also to
be the subjed of this taxation ; this was a subje6t
to which he could not look without anxiety, as it
involved the interests of the Public materially, as

well as those of the common Brewer. It was to
him
,a painful consideration, to increase the price of
this necessary article of life, Malt-liquor : the pro-
portion, however, as it bore on the common Brewer
and the private individual, he hoped would appear
to have been so managed, as that the inducement
to brew at home would not be diminished, so as
to discourage the praCtice, nor on the other hand so
increased as materially to injure the public Brewer ;
so that on a general view of this part of the subje(l,
no great difficulty would be introduced. But here
again he must beg leave to call to the recolleCtion of
the Committee, and which he wished to apply to the
commencement and the close of this and some other
Propositions ; that although he pursued the impres-
sion which the sense he had of his own duty imposed
on him, in proposing the repeal of the income Bill as
a Tax, the pressure of which ought not to be felt in.
time of Peace, yet that the deficiency which such a
repeal must create was considerable, and that the
means to fill up that blank, So created, must, to a con-
siderable degree, be onerous on the mass of the
Public ; and he was deceived, if this was not a con-
vietion on every enlarged mind in this Country.—
The operation of the Duty on Beer, . he expected to
he such as would enable the Brewer to sell for i Ss.
that beer which at present he sold at 165.; under
this head, he meant to do away in taxation the
distinction which had subsisted between Table and
Small Beer ; and in doing this, he proposed at once
to correct a great deal of fraud, and put an end to
a pernicious beverage which had lately been used. A
great deal of &pall Beer had been mixt with strong,
for the purpose of bringing the whole of it under the
lowest duty; and by which pradice certain noxious
ingredients were introduced into the Beer. He should
propose to attach the duty on Strong Beer and
Table only, so denominated. He was sanguine
enough to hope, that this would have no undue ef-
feet op the trade ; on 'the contrary, that it would
corre& a number of abuses, and .benefit the Re-
venue at the same time, by the regulations which
were to be introduced into ir. Taking this duty
under the regulations which were to be introduced
into it, together with the duty on Malt and
Hops, he would venture to estimate the whole at
z,000,0001. per annum.