Last Saturday the German Reichstag passed the Finances Reform Bill
This meagre has undergone many changes in Committee, and in its final form is very different from the bold scheifle introduced last November. The least controversial detail is the Imperial Death-duties, which, unlike our English measure, do not apply to direct descendants. The limit of exemption, however, is very low, estates of £25 and over paying a duty which begins at 4 per cent. and may rise as high as 25 per cent. The Tobacco-duties have been greatly out down in Committee, and all that is left of them is the duty on the retail- ing of cigarettes and on the import of cigarette tobacco. Many of the stamps have also been modified, and the Beer-duty has been so altered that instead of yielding £3,350,000, it is now only estimated to yield £1,450,000. On the whole, the new taxes, which fall mainly on the lower middle class, are very unpopular, and it remains to be seen how they will work, for a tax in contemplation is very different from one in operation. The new scheme was originally estimated to produce £11,500,000 additional revenue, but the Reichstag have lowered it to £9,000,000.
