The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-19 00:00:00

Olt

LONDON:
SATtIRDAY MORNING, MARCH 19, 1842,

Sir Ro BERT PEEL'S financial and commercial schemes
were exte med to a rough scrutiny last night, and some
of the p. t3te having been rubbed out of them, their
flip isey aad rude texture is made perceptible. Mr.
BA SING I )egan the examination, and having exposed
sw,etal a rithmetical and financial blunders of the
M nisters,. he demonstrated that they bad made a serious
mi ;repres entation of the produce of the 5 per cent.
ack ,itional: Customs and Excise duties which he levied
in 1840. Sir ROBERT PEEL estimated the pro-
duce of those duties at 206,0001. Mr. BARING
shows d that it had yielded 1,700,000/. .The Right Hon.
Gentle.man also proved that his alteration as to
the sup 2- duties would have yielded upwards of
1,000,0001 which together with the increased revenue
ob .ained ft om the Timber duties and the fixed duty on
Co rn, woul have nearly made up the deficiency of the
rat enue. 1 1.. t present, but for the unscrupulous conduct
of the Torii e, the country would have had the benefit
of those alt 'rations for nearly a year ; but it having
bet n eenied them it must now, as was stated by Mr.
Le ;ouerteitz,,pay the price of an income tax for the good
of I e Tories and the retention of the corn-laws.
vlr. BAILTNG antl Mr. LABOUCHERE both showed
the t the tariff of Sit- B. PEEL is a mere pretence of
lib :rality. It meddles not with the giant monopoly—
Sot Far from debug away restriction, it establishes,
for the first time, a complete series of differential
dut ice on everything -which may ever be imported from
the, colonies, and proceeds on the mischievous principle
of creating a vast neat of petty monopolies and vested
int :rests, which no Government would be able tc over-
' con ie. An income tax might be borne, it was remarked,
wet e it the price of a liberal and extensive system of
coi omercial freedom ; but we are called on to submit to
ate h tax, in. order to establish a new system of an im-
pel per commercial system.
:Ct was generally felt in the House of Commons, after
~ BARING sat down, that Sir ROBERT PEEL'S propose
for an annoying income tax is entirely unwarranted,
eit; 'er by, the deficiency of the revenue or the petty
con 'menial reforms which he makes the pretext for it.
In truth, it is a great and dangerous innovation, not
juseified V the reasons assigned, and brought forward
freeehrieetieele.which cannot be avowed. If we might
off( r a conjecture, we should say that the Tories expect
by :he help of the working classes, whom they hope to
brt ie by ae scheme of taxation which pretends not to
tout 'h them—though they will deny them the suffrage—
to bsten the income tax permanently on the middle
classes, to increase it when convenient, and so punish
these classes at their pleasure for their attempt to throw
off the yoke of the aristocracy.
After Mr. Gould:wee had replied to Mr. BARING,
and after Lard Howicx and Lord JOHN RUSSELL had
spoken,. the House went into a Committee, and Sir R.
PIM. explained the machinery by which he is to levy
the tax: The Right Hon. Baronet, annoyed apparently
by the manner in which his scheme was exposed, made
a somewhat furious attack on the Whigs, for
opposing his income tax. He gave the country
no - reason, however, to love or support it,
when he. stated that he proposed to adopt
the provisions of the Act under which the former in-
come tax was levied, and under which there were in the
city of London alone in one year 11,000 surcharges.
That may give our readers a notion of what awaits
them if they once suffer this tax to be established. Sir
BoRERT PEEL proposes
to appoint Special Commis-
sioners to hear appeals which may relieve a man from
the investigation
.of neighbours. He' means also to
allow persons to compound for the tax, as they
bare compounded for assessed taxes. Income is
eo be estimated by the average of the last three
year, which will make the tax fall lightly on
prosperous men, but ruinously heavy on men who are
unfortunately going backward in the world. The reso-
lution was moved, but not adopted, last night, and as we
shall therefore have frequent opportunities of discussing
its merits, we must now close, assuring our readers that
they cannot hope to escape the uncalled for tax unless
they exert theniselves. Let them denounce it and peti-
tion against it.

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