The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

noble lord made the announcement which he did last
night ? Under these circumstances, sir, I hope that tee
house will well consider before agreeing to grant any new
t aX.5.i, for we are not in a position in which we are je,tifiei
in dealing with the property of the people. If we tilie the
course which I have suggested we shad abridge the period
which is is necessary should elapse before we recur to the
country. Every convenience which the noble lord oan
require, every assistance which it is possible to ren-
der in order to bring about the desireil consumma-
tion, I shall be most happy to Om Let his Mutiryßdi
be passed; let his vote of men be a.reed to, under the
condition men:aonerl yest.trday of its bEing a max morn
amount; let him have a vote of credit and everything that
is necessary for the public service, but don't let us cancel
and revoke solemn engogements when our authority as
a representat!ve a.semb!y is about t,, expire: don't let us
be called upon to put our hands into the pocket,: of the
people and to levy new taxs. (Cheers.) We shall pre-
sently have a proposition brought before us which, if car-
ried, will have the eff-ct that I desire with regard to in-
direct taxes, and will prevent any addition to them ; and
when we come to the income t,./c I shall ask the house to
adopt a course which will as far as possible secure the
arrangement of 1853, and which will provide that the
incone tax shall he not 7,1., but 51. in i he pound.

, -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER —I hope
to be able to sae isfy the house that the course which I am
about to ask it to take is not only reasonable, bnt neces-
sary, under the circumstances of the case. The right
hon. gentleman contends that we have no power to bind
the decision of the next P trliatnent, and I quite agree
with him in that view—unquestionably we have no such
pewee-, and if the propesi, ion which I an about te make
should be agreed to it would be competent for that Par
liawent to alter or repeal those propositions. Never.
the lees, it is necesssry that we should deal with the
taxation of the country with respect to that interval of
time which will elapse hetween the end of the present
financial year and the time when the legislative action of
the new Parliament can conse into operation. If the argu-
ments of the right hon. gentleman respecting the duties
of tea and sugar were valid, they wou'd equally apply
to the income tax ; and he himself proposes that we
should now, from the Ist of April next, alter the existing
income tax, which is fix sd by act of Peerliament. Tise Act
of 1853, to which he proposes to revert, is repealed by
an act passed in 1855, which is now the law of the land ;
and unless that be repealed the innome tax of 16d. is the
pound would be leviable for t
It is just as much in
t.te ensuine financial year.
the power of Parliament to alter
that act and to revert to •he 5i fixed by the act of 1853
xi it is to suspend tb :fat) in
and to fix them a- theta
tsa and sugar duties
The plea whi- '" the ameuets which I have proposed'.
•n I submitted to the house was that the
Ways and
by afe • . Aetna of the present year should be supplied
balance between direct and indirect taxation.
4 eepesed to reduce the income tax from 16d. to 7d. in
.are pound, which would have diminished the amount
derived from direct taxation, and, as that would leave a
'deficit in the Ways and Means of the year, I proposed to
*upply that deficit by a email addition to the duties on
:tea and sugar. If that addition should not be made before
the let April next the low duties would come into opera-
lion, immediately a large quantity of tea and sugar would
be released from bond, and it would not he competent for
Parliament when it re-assembled in May to deal with the
question according to its deliberation. But if the house
W intake the course I propose it will be open to the new Par-
-sisenent to revise that decision, and to make any reduction
in the duties upon tea and sugar and in the income tax
which it may think fit. In the meantime no other plan
'will so well meet the exigencies of the present year as
that which reduces the income tax to 7d., and arrests
the descent upon the tea and sugar duties which would
take place according to the existing law upon the Ist of
April next. That arrangement is consistent with the
financial exigencies of the year, and in either case the In-
terference of the Legislature will be required. It is the
duty of this house to exercise such a power under the
present circumstances, and it requires no greater exer-
-else of legisla:ive power than the voting of 6upply, pass-
ing the Ways and Means, and agreeing to the appro-
priation Act, authorisieg the Government during the
next six months to apply the produce of the taxes to the
current service of the year. Att,r the announcement of
the right hon. gentleman yesterday, that he would offer
no impediment to the necessary measures for the services
of the year, I hoped that we should kidt have been met
with a refusal to supply the requisite Ways and Means
according to the financial plan already submitted. If
the conrse proposed by the right hon. member for
Buckinghamshire were adopted, and the income tax
were reduced to sd. in the te mud, and if oue measure
with regard to the tea and sugar duties were rejected,
there would inevitably be a deficiency according to the
estimates for the expenditure of the year. The right hon.
gentleman may say there will not be a deficiency be-
cause he will reduce the estimates in committee of sup-
ply ; but let us go first into committee of supply andaee
if that reduction can be effected, because until that is
done it is tie duty of this house to find sufficient
,Ways
and Means to meet the estimates of the expenditure of
the year. I trust, therefore, that the proposal of the
right hon. gentleman to refuse the necessary means for
covering that estimated expenditure will not be acceded
to by the house, after toe fair, but as it appears delu-
sive, promises which he made yesterday. (Hear.)
Mr. ROEBUCK tented that he had had a petition en-
trusted to him by an ass&ciation of merchants, praying
the houseto fix the income tax at 9d. in the p iund, rather
than not reduce the duties on tea and sugar to the rases
agreed to before the war. He would present the petition
when the proper time came.
Mr. T. BARING c intessed that the observations of
hisright hon. friend (Mr. Disraeli) had soul e hat al errned
him. The right hon. gentleman the enemiesr for the Uni-
versity had announced a resolution fur reducing the tea
and sugar duties, but he was willing to leave the income
tax fe. this year at 7d. in the pound. The right hon.
gentleman the member for Bucks, however, proposed not
only to reduce the duties on tea and sugar to the rates
agreed on before the war, hut'alm to reduce the income
tax to sd. He (Mr. Barieg) c nifessen that that proposal
filled him with apprehensions for the revenue of the coun-
try. He had voted for the resolution of his right hon.
friend, because he considered that the object of that vote
was to refer the estimates back to the Government. He
did not think they would be able in committee of supply
to effect any great reduction. Had they referred the
estimates back, not to a committee up stairs, but to a
committee in Downing-street, this might have been done
without losing the Ministry; but that resolution was re-
fuse]. Looking at the present tone and temper of the
house, he feared they shoal I not see any grea,, reduction
in the estimates. But they rnu,t beware cf fading into
that worst economy, a deficiency of revenue. (Hear,
bear.) As long as they sat there, one of their main and
proper duties was to provide the meens cf meeting the
e xpenditure ; and he cool I not understand why, because
they were on the point of exulting, they sheet,' inflict
the worst evil on their successors and the c iurrry by re-
fusing to de so. (Bear, boar) F-acing that there was,
not likely to be any great economy in that house, and
thinking that it was 1-use l'ktly in a new house, he was
net disposed to vote for Mr. Gladstene's resolution, for
the removel of that portion of Indirect taxation which
was caused by the war, as that wont I nscsssitate the
keeping on of a larger p qtion of the income tax. That
would be a departure from the sys!ern that was adopted to
carry on the war. It was proposed to meet those en-) un-ies
partly ty direct and pertly by indirect Lxetiee. It
they reduc,,d the indirect t xet to the point at which
they would have stand ;f there had been no war, and
did not reduce the ino,)rnfl tax to the same pi,iht, they
wool f depart fr in that prircill 3. There being sixty
tniflions to be levied some!eiv or other, they c not
rely solely upon direct rex %don ; te ateetnpt that would
be the most ihjorious ac';, that could be comm;tted to-
wards
the poor, for it woul I sent all the availatd.t capi- )
tal out of the country, and diminish employment.
(Hear.) As the nol,ll lord (Russell) had abandoned his
proposal for reducing the tea duty to is. 4d., and as the
Caancellor of the Exchequer had modified his proposal—
it was now only for a year—his impression was that he
must oppo-e the proposal of Mr. Gladsto,te, becau-e, iu
the present temper of the house, it would be a very
hazardous experiment as to the revenue.

The house then went into comanttec of ways and

THE TEA. DUTIES.

The CHANCELLOR. of the EXCHEQUER pro.
posed the following reeo'ution "That In lieu of the
dutms of customs now chargeable on tea imported into the
United Kingdom the following duties shall be charged—
To sth Apr 1. 1857, it, lesive, Ist 9,1. per pound ; from
and after sth April, 18:1, to sth April, 1858, incluove,
sd. per pound." lie said—Before I submit this re-
solution to the committee I am desirous of offering some
exelanations which nil apply to the objections that
have been made to the plan as I originally proposed it.
The object which I had in view was to moderate the
amount of direct taxaei,n pressing upon the country
in the shape of income tax, and to reduce it to that
amount at which it stood before the commencement
of the war, and at which it had remained since its im-
position by Sir R. Peel in 1842, Oily one proposition
had been made for a higher rate than 7J. bed we the
cunmenceinent of the war. Th,t was made by L )r1 J.
Russell, in order to support a plan for enlarged army and
navy estimates. He then proposed to rene 4 the income
tax for five years—fer the fir,,t 2 years at 12,1. in the
pound, arid for the 3 following years at 7d. That plan
was objected to by the louse. The large eqimates were
subsequently reduced, and the contemplated increa-e
to 121. for two years Wastnl.l) lttiee
7d rfcisotrpecimienn.„mTettreof
therefore al).
fore, there was no examide, ui
the late war, of a higher raos than
peered to me, looking .
the strong g which pre-
vailed in the ceun,ry on the subject of the income tax
extending to all classes of the cou3mlinitYnot even
iex-
cepting that class upon whom the incoi,ie tax does not'
directly press, that it was des Table te return to the rate
which prevailed during the peace, and to make up
.whit:
eer deficiency might occur in the annual texation, by
currence to a small incrcam in the indirect taxes. The in"
direct tax-s augmented during the war were the spirit
duty, the malt duty, and the duties on tea and sug,ar.
The spirit duty tad been €xsd by a permanent act of
Parliament, and the present Late of duty will continue
until altered by the house. Itproducesin round number,
about one million and a half in addition to thibrates tech
existed before the war. That may he taken as a perma-
nent addition t m the revenue. The malt duty ceased, by
the operation of the act, on the sth July last. No doubt
it would have been competent for me, in the last session,
to have proposed the prolongation of that duty till
t a end of the present financ al year, which would have
affuded the house an opportunity before the end of the
year to re-consider that dtety with the view of continu-
ing some portion of the increased war duty. My reasons