The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-04 00:00:00

T ItE ItLVENTJE.

In consequence of tha sth of January falling this
year on Sunday, the revenue returns for the past
qtrarter will ire made tip this evening. We rejoice
to hear that the accounts are likely to be most fa-
vourable, and Is is show a gradual increase of pros-
perity in every department of the State.
It is, perhar.s, generally known that the " financial"
Year ends on ttk 6th of April, when the accounts can
Le accurately ompared with the corre3pond'ing
statement of a previous year. -And we are happy
to state that it is confidently expected, when that
time arrives in 1845, they will exhibit a most grati-
fying and pleasing aspect of increasing prosperit!,
in every branch of trade and commerce in this grey
country.
With respect to the quarter's account, which will'.
be made up this evening, we understand that it will:
Fhc w.an increase, as compared with the corresponding
quarter of last year (as far as the returns from the.
different public departments have been received) of
upwards of 600,0001.
The increase in the Custom:;, as compared with
eorrespondin quarter of last year, is expected to
x eecil 150,0001.-

Tincreasing he Excise, that great test of the Com -
_ is of the people, is most satisfactory. rrhe thre
n tatters' revenne from the 6th of April last yoga'
( byyling to-day) will exhibit an increase of upwa,•di
350,000/., as compared with the three correspon
quarters of the previous year, ending sth Jan...,
1S40; and-it is confidently expected that the increa: se 1
. the finnneitl year, ending on the 6th of April next,
t. !der the• head of Excise, will be upwards of half :a
sterling.
hi the Post-office there will be an increase, calola-
hted at about 5,0001. or o,oeol. in the quarter.
'the Property-tax returns do not materially differ
I r Jul the returns of the last two or three quarters.
In Stamps, Taxes, and all miscellaneous articles
td every description of revenue, there is a small ill-
crease.

•
The quarter ft account, it is understood, will ",be
most favourable, :nd give the greatest satisfaction_ -to
the country —31:: !.sterial paper.

SPIRIT of ti PUBLIC J OURNAL3.

reom THE EVENING PAPERS or THIS D.
GLOI3E.—The memorable State intrigue by whiesh
Pitt, in 1784, succeeded in circumventing and up-
setting his great rival, Fox, was effected by means of
a bribe to the East India Company, which inflicted on
the nation an increased window-tax to the extent of
650,0001. per annum. The window-tax had existesd
previously to that time, it having been first im-
posed as a substitute for the hearth-tax, which was.
abolished in the reign of William and Mary ;
a relief which was described as " a lasting monument
0,- their Majesties goodness in every house in the
igdom." To win over the Hon. Company to his
• n tia Bill, Pitt talked largely, and bribed bountiful! y.
ile supplied the talk, and saddled the nation will
tax ation for the substantial part of the inducensen t.
*he }part of his scheme was a reduction of the to a
duty from about one hundred and twenty per cent:.
to twelve ,and a half per cent. To make good the
revenue, thus sacrificed for the benefit ef the then
existing tea monopolists, he imposed the large in-
crease of the windew-tax to which we have alluded.
This happened sixty years ago ; so that for the famous
lob of the " heaven-born Minister," the nation has :had
to pay, without estimating interest, simple or com-
pound, a sum amounting to upwards of fifty
lions sterling. We have alluded to the oriigin
and increase of the window-tax, for the purls se
of showing the clumsy and unequal mode of
assessment by which it is imposed, and the co n-
sequent injustice which marks its operation. Tine
inequality of assessment is so manifest that it is
scarcely possible to acquit the Minister who proposed
it, and the Parliament which adopted and sanctioned', it,
of imposing burdens on the poor to lighten the circa
sure upon the wealthy. Let any one take the table of
window-duties, which is to be found in any almanac
or pocket-book, and he will see that the scale of win-
dow-duties is formed on the principle of diminished
taxation in the ratio of increased means. What a mathe-
matician would term " the point of contrary flexture"
is observed ; for, on examining the scale, the larger
number of windows pays the least amount of duty.
The duty upon each window increases as the inability
of the tenant to pay, is indicated by the diminished
number of windows in his dwelling, until the point
reaches seven, below which number the tax is not
payable. A reference to the window-duty table will
show that the rate per window chargeable upon the
palaces of the higher aristocracy, is less than one-
hialf the rate chargeable on the houses of the
middle classes, and above twenty per cent. leas
than that charged on the house of the petty
shopkeeper with fifteen windows. The next in-
stance of inequality, in the operation of the win-
dow-tax is found in the size and quality of the
windows. Except in a few peculiar circumstances,
there is no difference between a large window and a
small one, and none whatever according to their ra-
t p fictive value.
A window of twelve panes, glazed
with ordinary crown
worth therefore butglass at ls. 6d. a pane, and
18s., is charged the same duty as
a window with the same number of panes of plate
glass, and worth thirty guineas. The duty in the
first case may be as high as thirty per cent., and in
the latter little more than one per cent. As the panes
in the latter case will be •at least double the size of
t hose in the former, and of course afford double
the
light, or be as good as two windows, the tax, put in
this shape, will be reduced one-half. On anamverage
the window-tax of the aristocracy is computed
at one-fourth part of what is paid by the middlePed
classes of society. The window-tax is not of
necessity a charge on the rental, even suppos-
ing all windows were of the same size and of tile
same value. A house in Belgrave-square fetches
double the. rent that a house of the same num-
ber o$ windows does in Russell-square. The tax
on the rental is therefore double in the one case to
what it is in the other. A house with the same num-
-oer of windows situate in the obscure purlieus of
:London, it is well known will not fetch half the rent
$ et one in Russell-square. The se indow-tax, therefore,
is twice as heavy there as in Russell-square, and four
tunes as heavy as in the fashionable locality of
Belgrave-square. But settirg the value arising from
locality out of the question, the amount of duty is
quite unequal upon houses of different rentals. Thus
se house of 10/. per annum, with eight windows,
Fa a
'duty equal to eight per cent. on the
y. s
rental; a house of 1001. rental, with thirty se itlows,
es ill pay Omie twelve per cent. on the rental; but a
louse of 600/. rent, with fifty windows, will only
pay fists and a
halt per cent. on the rental ; a house
of 500/., with sixty
windows, will pay only four
per cent. on the rental ; a house of 1,500/. a year,
with 100 windows, will pay only two per cent.;
a house of 3,0001. a year, with 180 windows,
will pay only one and a half per cent. ; and the
palace, with 365 windows, estimated at 6,0001. a
Dear, will pay only one per cent. on its rental.
`l'ls.e wealthy have other advantages arising out of the
window duty. There is no window duty charged on
the glass of hot-beds, hot-houses, and green-houses,