The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

REPEAL OF THE PAPER DUTY.

THE interval during which the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER is preparing his Financial State-
ment is the fitting time, according to the modern
system, for the agitation for the reduction or repeal
of those taxes which appear to bear the most
oppressively upon the interests of the community.
We have on a previous occasion stated that the first
relief should be from the Income-tax, which bears
with greater inequality and injustice upon certain
classes than any other of the public burdens. We
adhere to our convictions on this subject, but at
the same time we feel confident that, with the
several interests demanding relief, some attempt
will be made to divide the surplus income, which
seems destined never to be permitted to accumulate
for the reduction of the National Debt. It will,
therefore, not be out of place to bring before the
public attention a tax, the repeal of which possesses
more than ordinary claims to consideration. In
recent agitation the duty on Paper has been, for
certain purposes, mixed up with other questions
under the comprehensive term of Taxes on Know-
ledge, but it will be found entitled to the attention
of the Finance Minister, for reasons very distinct
from those advanced by the promoters of that
movement.

In the first place, Paper is applied to multifa-
rious uses, beyond that of forming the material for
books and newspapers; and its use would be still
farther extended, were it relieved from the surveil-
lance of the Excise. It has a claim to priority of
notice ; for, many years since, a Committee of the
House of Commons, appointed to take into con-
sideration the various duties upon articles in general
consumption, decided, after a minute investigation,
that the Excise duties upon Leather, Glass, and
Paper ought to be first repealed. The effect of the
repeal would be to give an impetus to .an important
branch of Home Manufactures, as was shown by
the reduction of duty in 1836, to the extent of one--
half, which led to the amount of manufacture
being nearly doubled. The tax is unjust ; foz while.
other manufactures have been relieved from all
duties upon foreign raw materials, Paper has to
bear a burden of above twenty-five per cent. It
inflicts great injustice upon the honest trader, on
account of the facilities for evading it by those who
are dishonest, and the strong temptation to col-
lusion by the Excise officer. The extension of the
manufacture would add materially to the sources of
employment for the population in rural districts,
where the majority of paper-mills are necessarily
situate, besides giving a large amount of additional
employment to the numbers already engaged in the
various processes connected with the dissemination
of literature. It would tend to improve the social
condition of the humbler classes, by the diffusion of
a superior kind of cheap publications, from which it
has been proved they are now debarred, solely
through the operation of the Paper Duty. It
would give very important relief to the Agri-
cultural Interests, by the increased employment
operating to diminish the Poor's Rates. It would
also remove the competition to which the Paper
Manufacturer is now-exposed, through other articles
similar to Paper—though not liable to the duty—
being substituted for it.
These are reasons why, in any remission of
taxation to be proposed, Paper should not he
omitted, as it would be difficult to find any article,
now subject to duty, the 'repeal of which would
confer so extended an amount of general benefit,
remove: so much of present injustice, and at the
same time do so little to impoverish the Revenue.
Under these circumstances, we cannot doubt that
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in his
cogitations, will give this question a prominent place.
We have alluded to the agitation for the relief
from what are called Taxes on Knowledge; and
while. on this subject, we:may refer to another item
which is specially recommended to the favourable
consideration of the Finance Minister. It is well
known that the Duty on Advertisements presses
with great inequality upon the several classes
subject to:it, while its repeal would not form any
serious amount of loss to the National Income. By
the present system, the rich man who advertises
the sale of property worth tens of thousands, pays
no more in the shape of duty than the poor servant
out of place, who anxiously seeks for another
situation. Nor is this all: the injustice—for the
duty is evaded in every possible way ; the interior
of railway carriages, public conveyances, the dead
walls, and other means being resorted to, for giving
publicity to announcements, in order to avoid the
payment of duty, which is only levied on Advertise-
ments which appear in Newspapers and other pub-
lications. It is proved by the Journals published
in the Colonies, in America, and- other places
where Advertisements are not subject to duty, that
the public freely adopt this mode of communication,
and there is no doubt they would largely avail