The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-05 00:00:00

the labouring classes—namely, the reduction of proteee
tire duties nu our great articles of consumption and
material. If these principles bo not assented to in recent
legislation, then 1 consent to stand convicted of error;
but if they are—if they are deemed for the benefit of
the labouring population of this country, I call upon the
House to record their verdict in favour of those ices"
cures.—(Cheers.) I run aware that a :loud demand NO
been made for the twat and unconditional repeal of the
window tax.—(Hear, hear.) That tax at present amount!.
to 1,856,0001.; the probable surplus of the year is, as
have already stated, 1,892,000/. Now, if I assented to,
this request about the window-tax, I should leave myself
a margin of about 40,0001., which I should be ashamed
to talk of as a surplus, to meet the least possible demand
—on account of the Kafir war, for example.—(" Oh.
oh," from the Radicals.) What! do Hon. Gentlemen
suppose that this country is to suffer its subjects to be
slaughtered without an effort to save them—(Cheers):-'.
those whom she is bound to guard, and whom she sea
out to the colony on the faith of British protection.--;
(Hear, hear.) If I had the smallest possible demand,
would at once willingly create a deficiency to meet such
an emergency, and I believe no man in this House
would blame me for so doing.—(Lloar, hear.) That
which presses most on the labouring classes is not
so much the amount of taxation which the pay, 69
the mode in which it is levied. At present, in refs'
rence to the window-tax, it is the number of winder's,
not the value of the house, which regulates the te%'
Now if I were to reduce the whole of the taxation on
house property I should be obliged to postpone the mo.
dification or removal of other taxes which bear more
heavily on the labouring classes, and which have fro
more important claims for consideration. Only let vie
remind the House of the representations made to GO'
vernment on this subject. One of the earliest parties who
applied was a gentleman well known in this metropolie•
himself an owner et house property. That gentleman
has written a pamphlet on the question, and in it he
calls upon all owners of house property to boar the in 3"
post. What does my Noble Friend (Lord Duncan) who
has so deeply interested himself in this matter say? Not
that house property should be relieved, but that no re'
striciions should be imposed on air and light.—(Heart
hear.) What was the language held by those who,
together with my Noble Friend, waited on me on this
subject? They did not ask for a remission of pounder
shillings, and pence; thsy represented that which
was true of the dwellings of the poor, the unequal
assessment and valuation of the houses, and WI,
asked for relief from these evils, but not
for a total remission of the tax. If I had a tax assessed
on the value of houses, I should have met all the de'
mends, but I should have a duty as different from that
which now exists as it is possible to have. A duty of
;
ls. 10d on houses with shops would raise a sum 0;
1,120,0001. That might be a proposal which would net
meet with the sanction of some. But the proposal wbiou
I made was one which I think would benefit all par
' ties, and no person would have to pay more than tae'
thirds of what he has hitherto paid. I could not apply
the same rule to the new houses. I am quite certaiht
however, that the fairest mode, the mode most consistent
with the principles of fair dealing and justice, is to pre:
pose a uniform duty on old and new houses.—(Hear)
When the gentlemen from itAarylebone complained 1°
much of the injustice of my proposal, and that I shoals
have put them upon the footing of new houses, they he,
not examined the question so far as they were concerned
with any attention, in order to see how the proposition
would operate on themselves. In one case they might pat
60,000/. taxes, and in another they might pay 68,000.
I admit, however, the proposal was deficient in that;ul2l'
form principle, which on the whole I think most just to
act on.—(Hear, hear.) Complaints were made also frote,
different parts of the country. There were many old
and large houses before any window-tax was introduced;
upon which the proposal might have fallen heavily.
was willing to correct the pressure which might ensue'
as on looking into the matter I am convinced the prio'
ciple I have just now laid down is a fair one. I hoPe
therefore they will not now complain, if, in adopting,.
these principles, they do not in all cases receive as mho'
relief as they expected. When complaints are made 1
the utter incompatibility of taxing on the number f
windows, and with respect to the value, I think we ()ugh,
;
to take as low a rate as we consistently could. Now,
propose to leave all reference to the number of windolu
out of consideration, and getting rid of all objection.
on sanitary grounds, I propose to take a uniform OW
of 9d. in the pound on the valuation of all dwelling'
Houses, 6d. on all houses which have shops'

or attached to hotels or farms, or that iere3
the
general purposes of victualling houses. The
House will remember also that I propose to exen„Ps
from taxation altogether all houses not exceeding 2°'
in value.—(Hear, hear.) Now let me state the re'
stilt of this proposal. In the first place, from such re;
turns as I have collected, I have reduced' the number 0'
houses paying window tax from 500,000 to 400,000."
(Hear.) I give a benefit not existing under the old te%
to shops, victualling houses, and farm residences. The
relief given from taxation altogether amounts to no less
than 1,150:0001. There are some anomalous cases °f
houses with which it would be difficult if not impossible'
to deal. In some cases taxation will be made loge!:
The relief will act according to the valuation of t°s
respective districts; for instance, streets in the West-en
might be obliged to pay more taxes than they hither.aso
did, or then those elsewhere in which the houses were
not so highly valued. The houses in the country gene
rally will be relieved more than elsewhere. The old re"
sidential house of the country gentleman will not 110°,
to pay in proportion to its number of windows,—(Retie./ cA.rgymen especially will be relieved, and so Wl'
the small armers generally. All the houses of Wes
farmers paying under 2001. a year rent will now be rei
Feved feom window tax. Those paying 3001. a yeor believe are subject to the income tax; so that a large'„
number of the agricultural population will be relieved
this proposition than would have been by the repeal 0
the income tax. They would all necessarily escape the
window tax because their houses were not likely to be
valued at 20/. I will give the House some instances °i
the extent of the relief which would be afforded by the
adoption of my proposition:—
Marylebone and its district under the present
system, pays now ... £92.00,,0
Will pay ... •••
Regent-street now •' • •-• 22,0w0
Hereafter 1,0;
Finabury-square now ... s„.
Hereafter 25
Portman-square now ... 1,210
0
Hereafter
Belgrave-square would have an increase of about 121
(Hear, and laughter)—but as most of the gentlenseP
residing there had probably houses in the country,
(Laughter)—they will be indemnified by the saving lea
one place for the increase on the other—(Hear, an
laughter.) It is very difficult to get returns of any sort
from any purely exclusive country district. I find, WI:
ever, by such returns as I can get, that in 40 excellent
houses situated in six of the southern counties the pre'
sent amount of taxes. is 2,5601., while that under the 00;
system will be only 567/.—(Hear, hear.) In Mancheste',
it was 30,0001., it will be 15,0001.; in Birmingbste
18 400/., and will be 8,000/.; and in Bath, the Noble
Lord's (Lord Duncan) own borough, the tax WI
23,0001., and would be only 2,5001. The greatest rehe
is given in those cases where the value of property clOl
not depend on the size or the number of window:
Will my Hon. Friends of the metropolitan distriafr
complain of this proposal? The Hon. Member i°l
Finsbury wants something done for him and his cossih';
tuente. He said we ought to do something for them.
think the tax, as I leave it now, is not paid by the la'bouring population by the artizans, by the workmen
whom he delights to represent—l have taken the tax 04
the people and placed it on property.—(Hear, hear.) .1
the Hoe. Gentleman behind me, who advocate direct tag'
ation en property, are dissatisfied with this, I know not
w will satisfy them.—(Hear.) There are 3,500,000
houses in this country paying taxes, and of tbol
3,100,000 will be exempt from taxation. That which
propose will be paid by 400,000 of the most valuable
houses in the country. —(Hear, hear, and Oh, oh.) NO;
if this be an injustice, it is to be proved that this IS
tax on the people. It is in the strongest sense a tax 01
400;000 of those houses which were best able to pay.
know not whether there is any authority to quote 10
favour of a tax of this description. I believe any writer
who has described this house-tax has called it one of tb,e
best that could be imposed. Adam Smith said there le
no country in Europe in which a large amount might
not be raised in this manner. I find the window tu''
most unrquel and unjust. I find a more recent sui
thority of great weight, Mr. John Mill, and a brie
extract from his book will express the bearing:
of the case clearer and better than I could:—"
house tax, as justly proportioned to the value of a bottle:
is one of the fairest taxes, and the most unobjectionable
of all taxes. No part of a person's expenditure far
niches a better idea of his means. A house tax, the!:
fore, if you approach it fairly, is a more equitable Or
than a direct one on income."—(Hear, bear.) TO'
therefore, is a short account of the extent to which I pro-
pose retaining a portion of the existing tax on house pre"
perry. With respect to the proposal which I made 04
coffee and timber, I know not that I can make 0131
change in those articles. I believe my proposal on they:
articles had its justice fully admitted. I make the so°
propositions, therefore which I previously made for ,
reduction of one-fourth of the duty on colonial cones
and one. helf of that upon foreign timber. The araon°
of these two duties was 400,0001. The Right Hon. Gele
tleman here went into some calculations of revenue °
show what probable surplus there would be for the en'
suing year; and upon summing up all the items he 011;
nounced that the contemplated surplus for the presefi
year was only 924,0001. That surplus was 11°;
available for any further reduction of taxation'
as it included a half-year's window-tax arrears'
which could not be calculated on hereafter'
I cannot say that I would be justified in pro's
posing any further reduction. I have already r"
minded the House of the possibility of a demand being
made upon us on account of the hostilities going 011 fi
the Cape of Good Hope.
An Hoer. MEMBER—What will be the amount of the
demand ?

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER--It i 73
m
of course, impossible for o now to state vrbat th
amount of the, demat.d may be. The catimato for 'll-0
10
Cape for six. month s was 400 0001, and I cannot be.:;
hoping that, with the means which will speedily be
the disposal of Sir Harry Smith, he will be able topie
an end to hostilities; but we must be prepared for
worst. We, unhappily, know too well what the duroti°,
of the last war wes, and what was the extent of the d 8
mand made upon us for it, and having now the mean° I 0
bt
our hands of defraying any charge which may be broil; v,
against us, surely no man would be so unwise as to thrSo,
them away.---(Hear, hear.) I have mentioned the
o the
mand made upon us by the East India Company t
of
extent of 400,0001. I trust that on an examination
accounts this demand will not be established, at least
its full extent. Still the demand has been made, and be
must be prepared to pay it.—(A laugh.) lam suree
Committee will agree that it would be unwise to Ply