The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-15

mock or in the Wilderness created purer
glow in the hearts of those who clustered
round them in the moment of danger than
did the garish footlights of the Academy or
the empty champagne bottles of the CONT
mental in the hour of triumph.
HOW MONEY rs RAISED IN ENGLAND.
From the NJ Y Times.
The account of Mr.. loves budget which
has been transmitted to us by telegraph con-
tains too many obvious mistakes to allow of
our placing much dependence upon it. For
instance, we are told that the "budget was
passed" on the day it was introduced-a feat
in legislation which seems to have astounded
a Newark contemporary, as well it might,
The "budget" cannot have been passed, be-
cause it is never submitted to vote of the
House en- bloc. Resolutions for separate
taxes are taken up separately, and on Monday
a motion for reducing the sugar duty was en-
bodied in resolution, and that was passed
But the measure as whole has yet to be
thoroughly discussed in Committee of Ways
and Means, and this work will probably not
be even begun until after Easter.
Again, the figures given by the telegraph
as the estimates made in 1869 for the year
1S69-7o do not correspond with the official
figures now before us. But when all neces-
sary allowances have been made for inaccu-
cial condition of Great Britain is prosperous
now, and promises well for the future.
There is q surplus of receipts over expendi-
ture of G8,000,000 in round numbers, and
nearly every department of the revenue has
been more productive than was anticipated.
This is state of affairs that may we'll delight
the heart of any finance minister That it
is greatly owing to the scientific method of
levying taxes and duties now adopted in
England, cannot be doubted. Long prac-
tice, many costly failures, and the devotion
of the ablest men in the nation to the task
of managing the exchequer, have enabled
the Government to raise a very large amount
of money with the least possible inconve-
nience to the people. Thus the customs
duties are confined to a handful of articles,
and yet they produced over twenty-one mil
lions. So the income tax produced upwards
of ten millions-fifty millions of dollars
although the rate was no more than five
pence in the pound-or little over two per
cent. An income tax here of five per cent.
produces considerably less than this, while
the persons liable to the tax are probably more
numerous here than in England. This might
well lead our fnanciers to consider whether
they have yet hit upon the best method of
assessment and collection. The income tax
is now to be reduced in England to four
pence in the pound, or about one and two
thirds per cent. We propose to raise a
much smaller amount with tax of three per
cent
Our customs duties embrace a very large
number of articles, while, as we have said, in
England very few are touched. In gross
expenditure, England is not so favorably
situated as we are. The interest on her
national debt amounts to three and third
per cent. on her gross income; the main
tenance of her army and navy entails a
charge of another three and a third per
cent; the internal administration costs two
per cent; the local taxation amounts to
nearly three per cent. altogether, about
eleven and half per cent. of the gross in
come of the nation. But let this fact be
borne in mind:-In England there is no tax
left in the statute book on actual
necessaries of life. The last duty on corn, of
a shilling per quarter, was abolished by Mr..
Lowe in 1869. 1t was little more than a
nominal duty, for it only realized G870,00
The duties on tea (sixpence in the pound),
coffee, and sugar Zone penny in the pound),
still exist, and Mr.. Lowe seems to have told
the House of Commons on Monday that al
present he could not do entirely without
| them. He has made no great remission OF
taxation this year, except the penny in the
| pound sterling on the income tax, and half
! penny in the pound weight on sugar. Some
addition.
With regard to the income tax, the exemp
tions here are much greater than they are il
! England, but still it cannot be doubted tha
at the rate of five per cent. the tax ought tC
bring more into the Treasury than it does
The amount realized in the last fiscal year wa
only 1884, 791, $50, while the Secretary to thu
Treasury thought he had a right to calculat,
on at least forty million dollars. There cal
be no question that the tax is evaded to
very large extent, but the chief cause of it
comparative failure is the rash way in whicl
exemptions have been allowed, especially il
the case of the agricultural class.
Another point worth noticing is that tn
taxes in England are so levied as to draw
considerably more money from the rich thai
the poor 1t has been calculated by Mr.. II
Dudley Baxter, an excellent statistician, tina
what are called the upper and middl
classes" in England contribute e54, 900, 600 t.
the national income, and the manual labo
class" 600. H., 600. Professor Levi, anothe
recognized authority, estimates that the per
centage of taxes to income in the case of tn
working classes is five and half per cent.
while the upper and middle classes pa
twelve and half. The aim of English finan
ciers is undoubtedly that which has been wei
defined by Mr.. Bright-"The taxes whicl
now exist ought to be put on satisfactor
and honest footing, so that every man, an
every description of property, may be calle
upon in its just proportion to support tn
burdens and necessities of the State" Thi
ought to be the chief end and object of finan
ciers everywhere, until the happy time al
riyes when we can do without the taxes alto
gether.
General Rosecrans wants treaty mad