REFORM IN THE CUSTOMS.
THE present net produce of the Custom-duties on Imports is nearly eighteen millions per annum. This sum is collected on many hundred enumerated articles, besides a sweeping duty of 10 per cent, on all non-specified raw materials, and another equally sweeping of 20 per cent. on "all goods being in part or wholly manufactured, and not being described in the schedule," &c. Of the total produce, about sixteen Millions are raised on eighteen articles ; from forty to fifty articles yield upwards of one million and a quarter; the remaining odd half million is raised from every variety of natural product or manufactured article, which may happen even by accident and for once to be brooght to our shores. The trouble and expense of collection, the still greater trouble and expense of payment, the inconvenience and even injury to which particular trades may be subjected, and the little real gain that can result to the revenue, are apparent prima facie. It is now upwards of fifty years since ADAM SMITH pointed out the absurdity of our Custom-duties, and suggested a revisal and simplification of the system. Succeeding writers have investigated the question in greater detail ; the last Finance Committee did not overlook the point ; and Mr. POULETT THOMSON brought the subject before the Wellington Administration : but though the peddling system of taxation might be productive of little benefit to the revenue, it was productive of salaries, places, and patronage ; and nothing was done till within these few weeks, when the Vice-President of the Board of Trade introduced his Customs Bill, which is now be-
fore the Commons •• The leading objects ofsffie Bill are—to assist our manufacturers, by repealing, or redutintes far as seems practicable, the taxes on raw materials ; to simplify the business of collecting and paying, by-a different classification of articles ; to open up, if possible, a more extended trade with the nations on the Western coast of Africa, by remitting or lowering the duties on their products ; and, in a small way, to benefit—the poor, by reducing the tax on cer- tain drugs—the West Indian Colonists, by a similar operation on a few of their productions. The articles on which the duties are proposed to be reduced or abolished, are upwards of two hundred in number; many of them subject to different rates of duty. The nominal tax retained on some of the articles is to pay the expense of registration (for statistical purposes), and is judiciously fixed at so low a rate as to afford no temptation to register a false value. The retention of several of the duties is pro- bably an experiment to try if an increased revenue will follow the reduction. It may succeed even with the drugs ; for although, as a wise man of the East observed, people do not take physic be- cause it is cheap, its cheapness may enable them to get it ge- nuine. With the exception of Almonds and Mahogany, we, how- ever, had rather that the whole had been repealed, especially the expansive " goods, wares, and merchandise, not being enu- merated or described." If a commodity oome so rarely as not to be capable of specification, a tax upon it cannot surely be an object to a nation with fifty millions of revenue. The present duty of 10 per cent. is, however, reduced one half. Mr. POULETT Thosisost has done much with very limited means ; for, after repealing the Hemp-duty, he had not much more than 60,000/. at his disposal ; and he calculates the whole loss to the revenue at only 120,000/. But the great merit of the Bill consists in its being the first step towards a financial reform on principle. Its defect, if defect it be, is an excess of cau- tion. A trivial saving in management may perhaps be effected even by this change ; but the chandler-shop system of taxation must be got rid of altogether, before the machinery of col- lection can be effectively simplified. Strictly speaking, not one manufactured article, however trifling its nature, is included in the schedule; and many articles of raw materials are omitted— such, for instance, as skins and furs. These two heads do not produce more than 48,0001.; which is collected on fifty-four speci- fied articles, subjected to seventy-two different rates of duty, be- sides four sweeping percentage duties on non-enumerated ar- ticles. The state of the revenue is alleged as an excuse, but we believe there are balances in the Exchequer enough to meet a de- ficiency (should any really occur) of one or two hundred thousand pounds, which would go far towards simplifying the whole
tariff. If the objection should seem valid to a man acting,
like Mr. THOMSON, under a sense of responsibility, a spe- cific return for the skins and furs would probably show, that nearly the whole amount was raised on a few articles. We imagine that little loss would attend the repeal of such duties as " Mole-shins, 6d. per dozen," or " Squirrel-tails, 201. per centum ad valorem." There are many of this class which could still be introduced into the schedule with advantage.
The practical men are divided in opinion upon the subject. A meeting at the Commercial Sale-rooms opposed and ridiculed the measure, but gave no reason for their opposition,—excepting, good men ! that the remissions would go into the dealers' pockets and not into the public's. The real ground of opposition was not, perhaps, convenient to allege. A duty acts more or less as a vir- tual monopoly,—partly owing to the capital which is required to meet the ready-money demands of Government, partly from the necessity of establishing a sort of machinery to pay the duty and clear the articles, which would otherwise frequently be delivered without trouble, direct from the ship. The Drug-trade generally approves of the measure as . . . . "highly beneficial to the interest of the trade, by preventing smug- gling and adulteration, and by giving greater facility in the execution of foreign and colonial orders. Moreover, many of the articles being used in manufactures as well as in medicine, several of the reductions will be of infinite importance to the manufacturing interest."
With respect to the question of drawback, which was a good deal discussed at the Rooms, abstract justice requires that the drawback should always be allowed. The prudence of repaying the duty in any given case, depends upon the extent of the injury likely to arise from the non-allowance, and the ease or difficulty of defrauding the revenue. In general, it seems better to risk the unfair repayment of small sums, than to keep a particular trade Inactive by deferring for months the operation of the repeal. We intended publishing the schedule ; but we have detected some errors in the printed copy; these errors will of course be cor- rected, and the scheme may yet be extended. When finally set- tled, we shall endeavour to find room for it.
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