The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-18 00:00:00

INCOME-TAX.

The Order of the Day for going into a Com-
mittee of Ways and Means was then read, Mr.
GREENS in the Chair.

On the motion that the income-tax be continued,
being put,
Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, he was very glad
that the Right Hon. Gentleman had consented to
postpone, for another day, the decision of
the House on this question, because the more
he thought of the question the more he
conceived its importance to be great and
greater even than the Right Honourable
Gentleman himself seemed to suppose.
If he could agree with the Hon. Gentleman
the Member for Kendal, who seemed to be greatly
enamoured of this tal, and thought that-it ought to
be permanent, he could find some comfort, because
he believed it was approaching to that accomplish•
ment—(Laughter)—but, for his own part, be had
been accustomed to consider the income-tax neces-
sary, indeed, in great emergencies—for the carrying
on of a war of an arduous and costly nature,
but subject to some of the greatest objections which
could be urged against any tax.—(Hear, hear.) He
had always been of opinion that it was unequal, and
vexation and fraud were inherent in the tax.
It was impossible to deny its inequality, for no man
would say it was equal that a person whose income
was derived from a landed estate or the funds, which he
could leave to his children entire, was in the same po-
sition as a person in a profession—a surgeon or an
artist—whose bread depended on the continuance of
his health, or who, by the loss of a limb or a defect
of eyesight, might at any moment be deprived of his
income.—(Hear, hear.) No person could say
that those two perss should be considered
in the same light. Neither could any person fairly
deny that great vexation was inseparable from that
tax—that a person engaged in trade, who was obliged
either to submit to the payment demanded of him,
or show all his accounts, and the matters in which he
was engaged, was not subject to very great vexation.
With regard, to the fraud and evasion, he believed no
man who had been concerned in the collection of this
tax would deny that great frauds were practised
under it ; that the man of the most integrity
and the most honour paid the tax fairly
and was subjected to the least reduction, while those
who wished to evade the law either found the means
of doing so, or entangled the Government and them-
selves in the most expensive proceedings. Such being
the evils of this tax he had heard with surprise from
the Right lion. Gentleman on Friday night that
they were inseparable from it. He had sometimes
thought that by different modifications, by alterations
with respect to uncertain incomes, and by changing
particular provisions which bore hard upon particular
classes, the tax might be rendered less vexatious. The
Right Honourable Gentleman had had three years
to observe the operation of the tax, and there was no
reason why he should not wish to make it more equal
and less vexatious if he could. Yet he declared that
it was impossible so to do, and that he
would show by argument that any attempt
of that kind would but aggravate the injustice.
He did not pretend that the process was not vexatious
and inquisitorial.—(Hear, hear.) But what he
argued on the last occasion on which the
property tax: was imposed was, that any attempt
to make any alteration would lead to a greater injus-
tice than that which it cured. He did not, and he
could not prove:that the defects were such as could not
be remedied, but what he proved was that they were
inseparable from the nature of an income-tax. What,
then, was the conclusion ? Why, that this was a tax
whose great merit was its productiveness to the
revenue, but which could only be imposed on great
and urgent necessity. When the Right Hon. Baronet pro-
posed the income-tax last year, he alleged in its defence
the necessities of the times. He said that, although they
were at peace with the powers of Europe, yet the addi-
tions made to the armament in the Mediterranean, the
war with China, with all the expenses which it entailed,
the war in Canada in the west, and near the Indus in
the east, though they did not amount to an European
war, constituted circumstances of emergency which, in
his opinion, justified the imposition of the tax. He
went still further, and said, that in imposing this tax, he
would not consider only the sum which it was requisite
to raise to balance their income and expenditure, but to
make a provision for the alteration of certain duties on
customs, that would increase commerce and invigorate
industry, thereby trying an experiment which he thought
would succeed in improving the condition of the people,
and at the same time get back the amount of revenue
that had been sacrificed. He thought he was not stating
inaccurately the grounds on which the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet based the tax on its original imposition. But in
addition to the grounds so stated, they had also the re-
marks of the Right Hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer,
during the last year, to the same effect. The Right lion.
Gentleman, in adverting to the Budget he was then
introducing, explained the various reductions that
were made, among which were several that did not
come into full operation till lately. The Right. Hon.
Gentleman then said—" I am not able, on the short ex-
perience we have had, to conjecture what would be the
result of the reductions, still less what view the House
would be disposed to take in the course of next year.
7n this year the income-tax would come under conside-
ration again, and then it would be for the House to de-
termine whether it should continue or not. Such
being the case it must be obvious to every one that he
should not be acting an honest part if he induced the
House to consent to any large reduction of duties,
which could only have the effect of preventing Parlia-
ment from coming to an unfettered judgment on this
subject, because if the reductions diminished other
branches of the revenue the House would have no al-
ternative but to reimpose the tax or take refuge in na-
tional insolvency." The First Lord of the Treasury
was said to be very reserved with respect to his inten-
tions, but he (Lord John Russell) must own that he did
not think he would have been so reserved as to conceal
his intentions from the Chancellor of the Exchequer.—
(Hear.) He had just given the grounds on which the
latter declined to make any great reduction of duties.
Now, in bringing forward his propositions the other
evening, the Right Hon. Baronet lost sight of both
these grounds; and he certainly expected that the Right
Hon. Gentleman would have shown some particular cir-
cumstances in the condition of the country, which called
for a remedy of a formidable and searching nature. He
had scarcely touched upon either of these topics. He
had never given any statement as to the reduction of the
revenue. The Right lion. Gentleman took a very popu-
lar course—a course which produced great enthusiasm,
but which he thought was one attended with no incon-
siderable danger to the country. The Right Honour-
able Gentleman showed that if they went on with-
out an income-tax, there would be a small defi-
ciency, the year after next, in the income--that
would be a ground for continuing the income-tax
for a short time, and the resolutions in the Chairman's
hand seemed to justify the continuance of that tax for a
short time. But the Right Hon. Gentleman went on with
the consideration of a great number of other taxes, and
the duties which he proposed to abolish, and then, when
he had totally destroyed the surplus which remained,
and left only 70,000 L, he took advantage of the popu-
larity which the abolition of taxation caused to induce
the House to consent to the income- tax. The result of
that course would seem to be the imposition of the in-
come-tax, not merely for three years, but perpetually.
(Hear, bear.) If the Right Hon. Gentleman had taken
another course—if he had said, " Now look at my tariff
—see what my tariff has produced ; see that, although
the duties have not entirely recovered from their reduction,
they have been gradually increasing, and in three years
I hope the original amount will be restored."
The Noble Lord went on to say that he regretted
the course the Right Honourable Baronet had
taken ; no period in history could be shown in which the
revenue had, from a reduction of taxation, ir.creased to
the amount of 6,000,000/. ; for that, in three years,
should be the amount it should increase to, in -order to
balance the deficiency. It was not assigned as a reason
for the continuation of the income-tax, the position in
which this country was placed by reason of its relations
with foreign States, because the Hon. Baronet said they
were at peace with all foreign powers ; neither was it
justified by reason of the rpAticron or th,—.lJ-I:thn
duties the Hon. Baronet had proposed ; ttierefore he
(Lord John Russell) was justified in swing that the