The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

pound. (Hoer, hear.) At the same time, the hole.. should
bear in mind that a sum of 1,200,0?0/. has been transfer re I
from the Censolidatet Fund to the annual votes, which is
a traesferof expenditure, not au increase, and merely ap-
un ier a Oifferent heel But, Sir, there has been of
late years a great increaeo under this head of charge, owing
in a groat measure to the policy which has been received
with s., mach favour in the house, and particularly found
a teocetes ausoug henouraWe gentleman opposite, of trans-
As riit" igs eat' ma agt6tse ro of
oaf lroocmeleeeimture to the national exchequer.
will allow me to state te therrarsetarnicees'orpeitrehmapssotfiltehishoclanr-
rector which are UOW charged upon the civil estimates.
There is the iteru of erieuinal prosecutions in Eegland, for-
merly paid out of the county rate, 250,000/. ; the same for
Scotland, 12, 100/. ; maintenance of irieoners in the nuited
kingdom, 126,090/. ; Poor Law chalees, Ile,ooo/. • county
constabulary, 14E3,0e01. ; the same fo; Ireland, 644.0'
making altegether m reliefof local rat ea, 1,297,000/. There
has been also a transfer to the civil estimates of an item of
216,000/. from local fees in County courts. There is also
a charge, which must he considered is the nature et relief
to hie il expenditure, for e tucation in treat Britain,
whice this year ate:eines to ~2;,000/ , ant tor Ireland to
Iq,ooo/. The branch of science and art taker; 43,10 N ,
and these three items make together 755,00 e/ The total o.f
items of this class is 2,320,0001. That is a branch of ex
penditure which has been growing, and is still on the in-
crease, and in the reduction of whick any executive Go-
vernment will find itself comparatively powerless. The
next charge which will come upon those years is the
charge for debt. If the revenue should be found insuffi-
cient, alter defraying the service of the year, to defray the
repayment of debt charged by law on those years, it will of
emirs° be open to Parliament when that time arrives to
consider whether any other arrangement may be made for
the discharge of that obligation. I should be extremely
sorry if I thought that anything would interfere
.with the
fpoary
paymentn rent o f the
in fourthe be oBnadcosewedhiinchg
years
At the same time if it should be found that they can only
present tof andei ethheePith3rre-
be imposing on the:country taxes of a very onerous descripi
tion—if the financial pressure is severe—of course it will
be open to the Parliament of the day to consider whether
the burden can be -disttibuted over a greater number of
years. At the same time my hope and conviction is that
it will be possible to defray them in the years when they
fall due. (Hear.) But with regard to the sinking fund
which is due in the same years a different reason applies.
ought, perhaps, to explain to the house the way in which
that sinking fund originates. The sinking fund for the
three loans of 6,000,0001., 5,000,0001., and 5,000,003. was
made to commence in the same manner as the income tax
was made to cease—that is to say in a year after the Ist of
April succeeding the ratification of peace. That was the
case in the first two loans, because they were contributed
in the course of the war. The third loan was contracted
after the war, and therefore a definite period was fixed for
its payment. When the first and second of these loans were
contracted the duration of the war was quite uncertain. It
might have lasted 5 or 10 years. If it hsd lasted for any
period of that sort,it would have been impossible to pay out
,of the annual revenue the exchequer-bonds that would hsva
become due daring its continuance, and it would have been
absolutely necessary to raise new loans for their discharge.
But as the war happily lasted only 3 years it so happens that
the first payment out of the sinking fund upon the three
loans falls in the same year as the Exchequer Bonds ; and
hence arises a great accumulation of the redemption of the
debt in those three years. The house will observe that the

the end to be landed in a deficit, then I thi❑k the House of
Commons cannot too speedily and decidedly interfere to
prevent a result so calamitous. (Hear.) Iu the belief that
if the house will sanction this resolution we shall be able
altogether to avoid new t •xaticn by wise and well-consi-
ders(' reductions, I now place it in ; our hands, and com-
mend it to the impartial t,ot earnest consideration of the
[loose of Commons. (Laud cheers.)
The question having been put,
The CHANCELLO It of the EXCHEQUER said—Con-
sidering that when, on the first night of the session, the
right bon. gentleman gave notice of a motion on the in-
o fine tax, ho had evidently considered the subject with
great deliberation- --considering that although ho announced
his intention some days afterwards to persist in that mo-
tion, he has since allowed it to disappear from the notice
list—considering that the motion now before the house is
a motion substituted for the one originally presented—and
considering that the right hon. gentleman, who holds so
eminent a position in this house, and is so experienced in
financial affairs, has, we may assume, thoroughly investi-
gated the matters upon which he has spoken, I cannot, sir,
but congratulate myself at finding that ho has offered scarcely
any objection to that which is, properly speaking, the finan-
cial plan of the Government. With the exception of a few
remarks upon the absence of estimates of the extraordinary
expenses of the Persian war, andalso of what he thought fit
to call the Chinese war, and some general remarks upon the
odiousness of an income tax and the odiousness of a tax on
tea and sugar, I douotremember that the right hon. gentle-
man introduced into his address a single observation bear-
ing upon the financial plan of the year. With regard to the
want of an estimate of the expenses of the Persian war I
have already stated that we shall present one, and I included
in my statement of Friday last a sum of about 260,0001.,
which we estimated would be the amount of the first por-
tion of the extraordinary expenses of the expedition that
we should have to defray. Itis therein not correct te say
that there is no estimate of any portion of those expenses.
What the right hon. gentleman calls the Chinese war has
' been carried on by vessels upon the station, and no extra-
ordinary expenses which we could lay before the house have
hitherto been incurred. As to the right hon. gentleman's
general declamation on the subject of the income tax, I
think, consideringthe number of years daring which that
tax has now existed since it was proposed for the second
time by Sir R. Peel—years of peace as well as of war—that
the house will hardly expect thatl should enter into a for-
mal dissertation as to the policy and necessity of that tax
under certain circumstances. With regard to the tea and
sugar duties, which the right hon. gentleman declares to
be the most odious of imposts, I really am at a loss to know
upon what ground they are to be so designated.
Mr. DISRAFILI—OnIy the tea duties.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—ForaIong
time tea and sugar have been included among the articles
upon which a Customs' duty has been levied, and the duty
is not subject to the objection of being a protective duty,
inasmuch as these articles areproducedexclusively abroad.

oe. amount to be redeemed in the present year is 2,250,000/.
cupy a position somewhat above that of mere necessaries,
They are also articles of general consumption, but they
In each of the two next years the sum will be 3,500,0001.
such as bread and meat, and for a series of years theyhave It would be a perfectly legitimate financial operation, ifParliament should think fit to do so, to postpone that sink-
been regarded as proper subjects for taxation. lam there- lag fund for three years. The only effect of such yostponee
fore at a loss to know whythe right hon. gentleman should ment would be that the first loan, for example, instead of
stigmatise the duties upon tea and sugar [Mr. Disraeli
repeated that he had only mentioned the tea duty] being paid off in 1873, would not be paid off till 1e76, and
so with regard to the other two. It might be found desir-
aole to adopt that course, for when so large a sum as
peculiarly odious, or why he should condemn me for 3,500,0001. is to be redeemed within a year, and that re-
having selected as an object of taxation an article upon demptiun takes place by the purchase of stock by the Go-
which a greater amount of duty than is now to bs raised vernment, they raise the price cteheorfefsot
effected o kasagaiun nsttnty: them
has in time of peace, up to the present period, been levied theselvesatnedrois.l
redemhaveption
i stated the full extent of the re-
for a long series of years. I must assume, then, that the curable
gumption of debt which would be going on in those three
financial plan of the year, or the budget—that term being years. There are now annual payments upon terminable
confined to the estimate of expenditure at first submitted annuities to the extent of about 4,000,0001. Now, the an-
to the house in committee of supply, and to the estimate nual charge of these annuities, if they were made perpe-
of ways and means provided to meet that expenditure— tun!, would be 900,0001. The difference, therefore, in the
having been placed before the house, the right hon gen- three years between the charge upon those terminable an-
Neman can scarcely make any objection to that budget, nuities and upon them if converted into perpetual ennui-
and I may regard myself as fortunate in having escaped ties would be 9,300,0001., which represents with tolerable
almost entirely from his censure. (Hear, hear.) But in accuracy the annual extinction of the debt. And, therefore,
the excursive flights which the right hon. gentleman took if in those three years the whole of the debt represented in
over the regions of finance he was not satisfied with re- the retain which I hold in my hand were extinguished,
marking upon the estimate of revenue and expenditure together with the payment of the terminable annuities,
for the year, but he commented upon the plan which I wo should redeem 18,550,0001. of the debt at the end of
proposed of fixing the taxation for two additional years. those three years. I have explained to the house that I
I may, perhaps, remind the house of the constitutional did not undertake to make a budget for the next two
practice with regard to the determination of revenue and years, and that, according to any reasonable computation
expenditure. The expenditure of the country is partly of expenditure, and also making allowance for those legi-
fixed by Act of Parliament—that is, it partly consists of timate arrangements which may be resorted to with re-
the interest upon debt payable by Act of Parliament, and Bard to the redemption of the debt, if Parliament should
of charges upon the Consolidated Fund fixed by Act of so determine, there can be no ground, as far as we can
Parliament; and it partly consists of annual votes in nom- judge, for anticipating that financial embarrassment
mittee of supply. These two branches of expenditure are (involving a deficiency of 5,000,0001.) in a future year
now about equal, the amount payable in the present year, which the right hon. gentleman has depicted in such alarm-
under Acts of Parliament, being about 32,00J,000/., and ing colours, and which he says would render the extinc-
the amount voted in committee of supply being also about tion of the income tax impossible. I have, I trust, shown
32,000,0001. It is possible, when the estimates are laid on that that part of the right hon. gentleman's speech which
the table, when a plan of expenditure is proposed upon the consisted of a demolition of an imaginary fabric—viz., the
responsibility of the executive Government to the house, balances in the next two years between revenue and expen-
to form a financial plan or scheme of revenue and expendi- diture upon which I had relied, together with an imaginary
ture for the year, and that is what I and all persons in deficiency—is wholly founded on error and on a misappre-
my position have done. But I will venture to say that hension of the very elements and conditions of the question.
no Finance Minister upon any occasion ever presented Can it be said with any truth that I have opposed any ad-
to the house a plan of expenditure for any future year. ditional or artificial obstacle to the extinction of the in-
(Hear, hear.) Such a thing is perfectly unheard of. come tax in 1860? I think I can convince the house that so
The great majority of taxes are fixed by permanent far as I have done anything in that respect I have rather
acts of Parliament and levied from year to year until afforded facilities for its extinction. I have merely proposed
Parliament thinks fit to get rid of them, and other an addition to the incense tax for the present year, which
taxes are fixed for a period of years. Formerly there were the right hon. gentleman himself not only does not object
certain annual duties, such as the sugar duties, but they to, but of which he says we have a right to avail ourselves.
have now been discontinued, and at present all taxes are I have proposed that the ins nue tax for the two next years
fixed for a perpetuity or for a period of years by Act of shall be 7d. instead of sd. iu the pound, and I think that that
Parliament. I thought it my duty to propose, finding is by no means a burdeLsome lucre lee. Au income tax of
that the tea and sugar duties and the income tax were con- ld. in the pound would be Bs. 40. per cent., and therefore
tinned for a certain time, that certain alterations should the addition of 21. in the pound to 50. will only add 16s. Bd.
be made in the rates of those duties and of that tax. The per cent. to 21. is. Bd. per cent., thereby making the per-
income tax was limited to continue for three years, and I centage of 2/. 188. 4d. That addition, I think, cannot be
proposed simply to alter the rates of the tax during those regarded as a very heavy burden upon any scale of fortune.
three years. The tea and sugar duties were to fall by So far as the change which I propose in the income-tax
regular gradations to a certain amount, and were to be makes any difference, it provides an additional revenue
fixed at that amount. All that I did was to propose cer- for those two years. And the same is the case with regard
tale alterations in these duties, but /never submitted to to the tea and sugar duties. At present those duties are
the house a plan of expenditure for a future year—for any upon a descending scale. I propose to arrest that descent,
osad, therefore, so fur as those duties are concerned they
year beyond the present. (Hear, hear.) Neither on Fri-
day, when I first addressed the house on this subject, nor will tend to increase the revenue for the t eyears-
on
Monday, when I gave an explanation supplementary to The change which I propose, 80 far as the remissionwonxt
oithe
my former address, did I attempt to give any estimate of income tax is affected, manifestly facilitates and does not
expenditure for a future year; and if the right hon. gentle- obstruct. (Hear, •hear.) Then with re std to tp man will look to the statement of former Finance Ministers vision which may be made for the discharge of
she debt. —for instance, at that of Sir Robert Peel when he intro- in these three years, if that debt should be discharged
duced the income tax, and at those of the various Chan- to the extent of 9,253,0004, the reduction of the into-
to of the Exchequer who have renewed that tax, be rest in 1860 compared with the year 1857 would be
will find that on no occasion did they attempt to give an 313,000/. I may, perhaps, be liable to the charge of at-
estimate of expenditure for more than one year. There- tempting to penetrate toofar into the future if I read to
fore, when the right hon. gentleman talks of a " defi. the house an estimate which I have prepared of the re-
ciency" he introduces an idea whollyforeign to the subject. venue in 1860-61. The revenue of a future year can be
(Hear, hear.) In order that there should be a deficiency estimated 'according to the existing law • but it is other-
it is necessary that there should be a comparison between wise with regard to the expenditure, because it depends
revenue and expenditure, and if I had made an estimate of upon the annual estimates which are prepared by the Go-
expenditure for future years, and had compared it with vernment of the time being, and have to be submitted to
the revenue, and the right hon. gentleman had then found Parliament. When, therefore, I make an estimate of the
there was adeficiency, he would no doubt have been justi- expenditure for 1858-9, for example, I can estimate that
fled in saying that I had created, as he called it, a colossal portion of the expenditure, which isfixed by Parliament,
deficiency ; but I never asserted that the changes of tax- such as the annual charge in respect of the consolidated
ation I bad proposed would create either a deficiency or a fund • but all the rest of the estimates must necessarily be
surplus. (Hear, hear.) On the first night that I made a framed upon mere conjecture. Supposing, then, that no
statement I abstained from all mention whatever of future alteration shall be made till the year 1860 in the taxation
years, but on Monday, when the right hon. gentleman which I have proposed, I estimate the revenue of the year
had :given notice of the motion he has Low made, 1859.60 at 62,255,e00/. There would be a loss in 1860
I thought it would be convenient to the house to know upon the tea and sugar duties (even taking into calcula-
what was the revenue which I calculated for the two years turn the incg eased consumption in that year) of about
to which that motion referred, and I accordingly read an 1,065,0004 Theie would also be a loss upon the income
estimate of that revenue. The totals of that estimate were tax of 3,650,0041., because the payment of half of the se-
not stated by the right hon. gentleman exactly as I stated venpenny tax would fall due in the following year. In re-
them. The totals which I stated were 62,300,000/. for the spec' of miscellaneous I estimate a loss of 100,0004 The
year 1858-9, and 62,265,000/. for the year 1859-60, and I total loss, therefore, to the revenue in 1860.1, compared
said that if you compared that revenue with the expendi- with that of the previous year, would be 4,815,000/., and
tare of the year 1853-4 you would find no deficiency. That the revenue in 1860-1 would be 57,450,0004. If wo may
was the statement I made, taking the last year before the add for improvements and other branches of the public re-
war as a standard of comparison, because, if I had taken as venue an assumed sum of 665,000/. we get a total of
my standard the estimated expenditure of the present year 1 55,115,000/. TLe expenditure of 1833-1 was 55,840,0001.,
I should have taken an estimate whicb has not been agreed I which we may take aIP as a standard of co ariso n, approving
to by the house, and which, moreover, relates to a year of it or not as we think fit. I dedaa from that sum the diffe-
great peculiarity—the first year after the war. However, rence between the interest of the debtin 1861 and the in.
any himself,r
hon. gentleman may wake the comparison for ,
terest of the debt in 1853—viz., I,6lo,ooa—which is
either of the revenue, such as I have stated it, with the formed by deducting from the terminable annuities, which
expenditure
of the present year, or of that revenue with expire in 1861, and which amount to 2,146,600/., the ad-
the expenditure of 1853; but, whatever year may be taken ditional charge of interest which has accrued during the
as the standard of comparison, I must be understood as de- war. The expenditure of the year—assuming always
Ihlsst,ooiJt/.
is
clining to make any positive estimate, or to give an opinion that of 1853—is thus reduced to 51,500,000 L, as
as to the amount of expenditure of any year after the pr.:-
Twhoerthh.ousel havemay
atagkaohistthaatu eisatraete offorsBw, sent. With regard to the argument of the right tom..
gentleman that there will be a great sum, willwhich expressed no opinion upon it, and refer to it merely for the
mnlate, to be defrayed in the year 1&,0, by which thea dif- purpose of showing thatthe plan I proposed does not throw
ficulties of repealing the income tax will be increaseadr,k:. any obstacle in the way of the extinction of the income tax
wish to cell the attention of the house to a feawre
budgetm for in 1.860. With regard to that question I feel myself ince-
A t the same time I do not undertake to make pable of assenting to the latter part of the resolution before
more than one year. I express no opinionwhatevenrtafito
the house. It says that it would be expedient to " pro-
the probable expenditure for a year after thetoprtese Ne-
vide for such a balance of revenue and charge respectively
vertheless, I shall take a general view, so as throw some
in the year 1860 as may place it in the power of Parliament
light on the possible financial position of the country int e
at that period, without embarrassment to the finances, alto-
two following years. The revenue estimated for the years
1858-59 and 1859.60 is, as I have already stated, about gather to remit the income tax." I do not in the least
deny that it would be extremely desirable to realise that
62,300,000/. I holdin my hand a statement of the gross re deny
All persons must wish that anyonerous tax, which
venue of everyyear since 1830. There is only one year from result.tree income tax is alleged to be, should, by the increasing
1830 up to 1853 in which the income exceeds 58,000,000/. The of the country, be found unnecessary for the
revenue which I have provided resulting from the alterations Prosperityublieservice. But it seems to me that we cannot bind
of taxation will be at the lowest 62,265,0001., being nearly
ourselvesP down to any sort of pledge, or to any formal con.
4,000,000/. greater than that of every year prior to 1854-5. fession of faith as to the possibility or probability of Par-
Since 1854 the revenue has been 64,000,000/. for 1854-5,
any measure which
liament being able to remit the income tax in 1860. (Iron.
doistaleul t o r
and 70,000,000/. for 1855-6. In the present year the re- cal cheers and laughter from the Opposition.) Each gen-
venue will amount to about 71,885,000/. The revenue for tleman may calculate the probabilities for himself, and if
next year is estimated at 66,365,000/e being the year 1857-
8, for which I propose the present budget. Then we come we choose we can abstain from taking
might render such remission of taxation either
aasonable pros-
to the years 1858-9, when the revenue is estimated at improbable. What I maintain is, that the pro
I have made, so far from increasing the ditficplt'a which
hold out 62,300,000/., and 1859-G0 at 62,265,000/. The question is
whether a probable income of that amount will be insuffi-
cient for the expenditure of those two years. Notwithi sgpaectots awnhdiolehssweensoatoliehmol,
satisfactory
oaffterpereesveearty
orie 4 lee. miti-
standing the disapprobation of the right hon. gentleman financial adjustment in 1860. Beyond that ' must again be allowed to institute a comparison with
s was""e to me impossible to go, If the state of point it appears
expenditure of the year 1853-4. The expenditure. tnen.- 1860 should admit with advantage 0: our finances in
in each or
55,840,000?. The revenue proposed to be raised
with or almost entirely, of the income the remission, wholly
these years is 6,460,000?. in excess compared7hosonmesof the years wisdom and patriotism of taxParliameni ' let us trust to the
that expenditure--that is to say, ee
th"thnthe expenditure of the change. (Hear, hear.) If, in that year to effect
1858-9 and 1859-60,
as aamparedoo7/. We must consider, turn out, from adverse circumstances onthe other hand, it should
1853 4, shows a surplus of 6,46.0, without the gift of prophecy _ which we cannot
what may be regarded
in a Parliamentary point of view, I
willat the income tax is ecy foresee, that the abolition of
that income.
as the first charges on pointment and
of our national defences,
that, looking at the importance
and weaken the respect in which the Parlia-
ment is happil '
the expenseswill be the first
for the army navy . y held if we led the country by an abstract
resolution to
Comparingthe estimates of the present year with expect a remission which circumstances might
charges.
the estimates of the last year before the war, there is an ex- put beyond our power to grant. (Hear.) Therefore, al-
ess e of 4,000,030/. We certainly cannot reasonably anti- though there is little in the general tenour of the resole-
cipate that excess ahould continue at its present amount. tion to which I have to object, I cannot see that any_ advan-
Some portion everybody will admit is due to its being the tage would arise from our assenting to it. It w nld be open
first year after a war. [Mr. Disraeli—The second year ; to much misrepresentation, would give rise, perhaps, to
I shall vote in
that is important.] It is the first year after the disband- dangerous misunderstanding and therefore
*, the chair. I shall neither
lug of our armies, and after the return of our army from favour of the Speaker leaving
foreign parts. Unquestionably great difficulty is experienced affirm nor deny the resolution,
but shall ask the house 1
into Committeeof Wayso
in making reductions suddenly in the army and pass to the order of the day and go
navy, andth t.' 1
• to consider e prac ica question
in military and naval establishments, and
,we must consider and Means, with a vie
ra.
to of the income tax.
can Hear.)
that a large portion—l will not say how large, but a lay e of the reduction of ted
to no practical result. It portion—of the present excess is due to the peculiar ' g The resolution can I
that of a certain qu thy • pre-
stances of the present year. What reduction circum-
_, _
effect beyond an of discus-
we may be able duce DO
.h
.....-03ear, hear, and a laugh)—au if
to make in future years is a matter on which I si°n in this "°— ourselves down to this sort of d even
express no opinion. It will depend on man can now
we were to bleudnders
del-stand how we should be nearerpolitioal
many of which no doubt are within thecontrol caus than test, I cannot attainment of the end which the right h 1191"
of this.
house, but inasmuch as we have notyet are now to
to and allofust hin ."14
been into Commit-
gentleman opposi
tee of, Supply, and the estimates d satisfactory
viz.,
have not yet undergone the permanent an settlement of our finance*.
any debate, it would be premature to offer an opinion as to much for the latter (Hear.) So
the extent to which they may be susceptible of reduction former part seems to me, so far as I can apprehend its
in future years. That they will admit of reduction to a meaning, to he equally objectionable. It asks the house to
greater or less extent I deem absolutely certain. (Hear, resolve that "it would be expedient, before sanctioning
hear.) We then come to the estimate for the Civil Service, the financial arrangements for the ensuing year, to adjust
and I confess that offers greater difficulty in reduction thant the estimated income andexpenditurein the manner which
the army and the navy. This has been owing to the grrni shall appear best calculated to secure the country aga
increase which has taken place of late years in that
obrtivii the risk of a deficieney in the years 1858-9 and 1859.60,'0,'s
of expenditure, so that now the estimates fortttatl-:, to I confom I ant not quite clear as to the meaning of that pa.
Service amount to rather more than 7,000 6)/
,74 in the ragraph, by which I apprehend the right hon. gentle at 1 t• -
Bay, they exhaust the whole of the income tax means—and perinTs Jae will /We the ki man
ncloele to oorreo
•'a ..""