The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-22 00:00:00

favour of taking the funds than the

•e utterly ignorant of th

position in

Amongst the
ola
Is averaging £lOO per scar
Is

society of those whom they proposed to to
fundholders there were 240,000 pers

.._. _
Lord Hoi,viCK said, if there were other sources from which
..,venue could be obtained, they were not justified in impo-
the funds there were only 600. The noble lord then argued sing upon their constituents taxes of so very objectionable a
that though it was just to make all classes pay in proportion nature as those proposed. The revenue might have been
to their income, there could be no justice in increasing the considerably raised by a fixed duty on corn; and here he
rate of per centage in proportion to the largeness of income. might remark, that the landlords might yet find they had
It would, however, be arn,ther matter to lower the rate of per made a false calculation, and that the sliding scale had cost
centage as you descended to the smaller incomes, according them more by occasioning the imposition of an income-tax
to their nature, and this he thought quite proper. Those than if they had adcpted a fixed duty. A similar application
who contended for a graduated scale of taxation contended of the same principle to other articles of consumption might
for this, that the revenue should be collected from classes of be found very productive. As an instance he would take
the community, and not from the whole community itself. the article of sugar—and he would observe that the country i
It was his firm belief that this income tax was absolutely ne- must now see how fallacious was the argument that a reduc-
cessary, and therefore it was that he wished to have it dis- tion of duty on foreign sugar would lead to an encourage-
cussed by their lordships before it came before them in a bill, ment of slavery ; for the very same thing applied with equal
for then alteration and modification would be wholly out of force to the reduction of the duty on coffee. The noble lord
the question—they could not alter an " and" or a " nor," then contended that there was no necessity for the income
they must take the bill as it came before them or reject it tax, which would press with dreadful force upon the middle
altogether. The noble lord then proceeded to argue that it classes of society ; and, he predicted that if such a tax should
was manifestly unjust not to make a distinction between the be imposed, when its';weight should be felt, the right hon.
nature of incomes arising from different kinds of property, baronet would find the stanchest of his supporters shrinking
and equally unjust not to make a similar distinction between from his support. as they had formerly shrunk in 1816 from
such incomes and the income derived from the professional supporting a government of which they generally approved,
labour. He then dwelt upon the inquisitorial nature of the in the maintainance of this tax.
income tax, which was bad enough in compelling the land- Lord J. RussELL said it was a great omission not to have
lord to disclose his incumbrances or pay a greater amount of included sugar it' they meant to advance largely towards
tax than he ought. but which was a thousand-fold worse as commercial freedom. Corn was another omission; and the

man, who d

coant or tradesman, whose disclosure of the losses of one
year would almost inevitably lead him the ensuing year into
the Gazelle. The noble lord concluded by expressing his
regret that they should be compelled by dire necessity to re-
sort to a war tax in time of peace, and hoped that it would
not be retained one hour beyond the existence of the abso-
lute circumstances which called it forth. He then moved
his first resolution, to the effect that nothing could justify
the income tax but hard necessity, and that when that ne-
cessity had passed away the tax should cease.
The Earl of RIPON said he agreed in a great deal of what
had fallen from the noble lord, and nobody could deny.the

to touch those two articles, because they touched the inte-
rests of great merchants and landholders by whom the pre-
sent government was supported. It was a mischievous and
wanton course to create a number of new protective duties,
totally uncalled for, as it appeared was now to be done by
the new tariff. There was no emergency so great as to wra-
rant the imposition of an income tax, for had the measures
proposed by his government last year been adopted, the pre-
sent deficiency would have been only .-Elioo,ooo, and even the
£2.500,000 might be supplied by a revision of taxation. The
noble lord then adverted to the inquisitorial nature of the
income tax, which he contended rendered such a tax parti-
cularly odious and mischievous. The strongest objection.
however, he had to this tax was, that it was telling the world
that this country was driven to its last resource—that it was
struggling for existence, and that war would find it unpre-
pared. He should for these reasons vote against the income
tax in the committee ; and should it come back to the house
in another shape, he would move resolutions in order to place
on record his opinions of the financial state of the country,
and of the impolicy of an income tax.
The house then went into committee, and
Sir R. PEEL proceeded to address the house. He was not,
he said, surprised at the course the noble lord announced his
intention of pursuing. He felt confident that whatever
course lie pursued, or whatever he proposed, he never could
hope for anything but opposition from those whose malad-
ministration of the finances of the country had led to its pre-

justice of the resolution he had moved. Indeed all the reso-
lutions were abstractedly true ; but he did not think that
they had been brought before their lordships in a convenient
shape or time, because the*, might have the effect of fetter-
ing their lordships' proceedings when the bill now before the
House of Commons should come under their consideration.
The resolutions, if agreed to, would create much awkward-
ness in the transaction of business between the two houses of
parliament, as such agreement would be in effect an intima-
tion to the House of Commons that their bill must contain
certain principles, or it wculd not be received by their lord-
ships. Under these circumstances, he considered himself
absolved from folloWing the noble lord through all his argu-
ments, and he should therefore conclude by moving the pre-
vious question.
The previous question was then put and carried without
opposition, and their lordships adjourned.

sent embarrassments. Since he 'had last addressed the hOuse
it had become necessary to send additional reinforcements to
India in consequence of the way in which they had misma-
naged the affairs of that country ; and he should have to
move, in consequence, for additional army estimates, thus
increasing the existing deficiency of £3,000,000, including
the cost of the expedition to China. The other measures in
contemplation would occasion a total deficit of £4,200,000,
which could only be met by an income tax, which would
press on those who, though jn some instances not rich, yet
were in circumstances sufficiently easy to meet this demand
upon them. With respect to an income tax, could any one
be deceived by the cry that it was a war tax ? It was the
exigencies of the country that demanded it ; but even if it
were a war tax, was it because that they did not hear the
cannon sounding in their ears that they could therefore per-
suade themselves that they were at peace ? Let them look
to China and to India, and such a delusion would cease on
the instant. He thought the sum each person would be
called upon to contribute under this tax would be very small,
for the cost of living would be so very much reduced, if his
whole plan were adopted, that the payer of the income tax
would receive considerable compensation in the cheapness of
articles of consumption. The right hon. baronet then pro-
ceeded to explain the machinery by which he proposed to
collect the income tax. He proposed to adopt the machinery
laid down by the act of Lord Lansdowne, in 1806, in the ad-
ministration of Lord Grenville and Lord Grey. The com-
missioners of the land tax should be_ required to appoint com-
missioners for general purposes, who would have the selection
of others, to be called additional commissioners, and those
latter would have the charge of the assessment of the property
tax. There would be, as there were in that case, special pro-
visions respecting the assessment of Bank and East 1 ndia
stock and other public securities. This tax he meant to be
under the control of the commissioners of stamps and taxes.
Local commissioners should appoint assessors, who would deli-

ver blank forms of return, containing minute instructions as to
the tilling up of the blanks, with a return of the annual value,
whether of lands, rents of houses, &c. With respect to the
profits of trade, he should propose, as in the act of 1/306,
that those profits should be taken upon the average of the
three preceding years, and with respect to professions upon
the profits of the preceding year. The chief difficulty of the
tax was with respect to trades and professions, and it was in
reference to these that the tax was said to be inquisitorial,
and this difficulty he would endeavour to meet. He proposed
that the returns when filled up should be sent to the assistant
commissioners, and be accessible to the surveyor, and to these
parties it should be competent to make a surcharge upon that
assessment. The appeal from this surcharge should be read
before the general body of commissioners, who would have
very extensive powers to demand precise information. To
meet the objection as to the exposure of a man's affairs to his
neighbours, he proposed to give to the party appealing an
option of appealing to the general commissioners or to spe-
cial commissioners appointed for the purpose, who would be
hound to secresy by oath, and whose decision should be final.
There would be also a provision to enable parties to com-
pound for the assessment for the whole period of three years
that the tax was to last ; and an arrangement should be made
to enable the possessors of landed property to pay into the
Bank of England, so as to prevent their friends and neigh-
hours from knowing the exact amount of their income. With
respect to making any distinction between terminable an-
nuities and other property, he could not assent to make any
such distinction, for if he were to do so he must be compelled
to make remissions to a much greater extent. The object
was to levy the tax upon the whole income of the country,
and he could make no discrimination as to the source from
whence it was derived.
Mr. LABOUCHEPE said that the whole tone of the right
hon. baronet betrayed a consciousness that his plan was not
received by the country as favourably as he affected to be-
lieve. Strong as were his objections to the income tax, if
the right hon. baronet had brought forward fair and just
commercial alterations he would be disposed to enter upon
flying at the weak
its consideration ; but when he found his commercial tariff
and
passingdef
defenceless,
et
lhees s strongbe could
ulandd notpo powerful, us lu, anda commercial reform
consent to fetter the country with an income tax.
Lord WORSLEY wished to ask the right hon. baronet what
amount of revenue he expected to derive from the importa-
tion of foreign corn under the sliding scale of duties. The
noble lord took that opportunity of condemning the injustice
of placing the same rate of tax upon the income derivable from
terminable annuities and other species of property.
Sir 11. PEEL said it was impossible to form an estimate of
the amount of revenue, for it depended altogether upon the

harvest.
Lord WORSLEY said it was reported that from that source
there would be a revenue of £1,200,000.
On the motion of Mr. HAwEs , the chairman then reported
progress, and obtained leave to sit again.