The complete figures of the revenue and expenditure of the
past financial year were published on Wednesday. Sir Michael Hicks Beach expected to get a revenue of £152,185,000. We have actually received 2151,551,698. The revenue, that is, is £633,302 lower than was expected. This, however, is nob a matter of fiscal embarrassment, as the expenditure has been considerably less than was expected. The falling off was in the Customs and Excise, but though these taxes did not yield as much as the estimate, those faithful friends of the Chan- cellor, the Death-duties and the Income-tax, yielded more. If no alteration were to be made in the present rates of taxa- tion, and the expenditure kept to the present estimates, there would next year be a surplus of at least 27,000,000. This surplus will almost certainly go in a reduction of the Income- tax, but whether it will be possible to take the tax down from is. 3d. to the clear shilling remains to be seen. Each penny now produces over two and a half millions, and therefore to take off threepence might prove too great a reduction. We expect, all the same, that Mr. Ritchie will be tempted to make a clean sweep of the threepence. Below a shilling, however, the Income-tax is, we fear, not likely to go for many years to come.
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