TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE TAXES.
Ma. Ronixsox's mot:on for" a Select Committee to consider and revise our existing Taxation, with a view to the repeal of those burdens which press most heavily on productive industry, and the substitution of an equitable tax on property in lieu thereof," was rejected by a majority of 66 in a House of 376 members. When we consider that Government was directly opposed to the motion, and that its intention was to throw upon the Aristocracy a consi- derable portion of those burdens which it has hitherto placed upon others, so numerous a minority as 155 is a proof that some com- mutation of taxes will take place at no distant period. It is pos- sible that this commutation might have been effected during the present year, had Mr. ROBINSON'S proposal been better considered. Many, though favourable to the principle of commutation, might not be favourable to the principle of an Incometax. Others might be averse to so high a rate of percentage as must be imposed to raise so large an amount as fourteen millions. Some perhaps thought that his repeals might' have been better chosen. All these circumstances were not indeed suflicient to justify the refusal of an inquiry, but, coupled with the extent and somewhat sweep- ing nature of his plan, they were enough to startle the cautious, and afford an excuse for the opposition or absence of the wavering.
The proposal of the Member for Worcester was— To repeal the Duties on—
Bricks and Tiles 365,237 Glass 531,493 Hops 148,594 Malt 4,359,332 Paper 677,103 Soap 1,138,261 Starch 78,404 Stone Bottles 3,054 Cotton-wool 363,537 Assessed Taxes 4,056,429 Newspapers 483,152 Advertisements 172,570
£10,577,566 To reduce by one half the Duties on— Sugar (total produce 4,650,588/0 0,325,294
Tea (total produce 3,344,91810 1,672,459 3,997,753 £16,375,319
Thus, taxes at present producing a revenue of 16,375,000/. Would have to be provided by other means,—though Mr. ROBINSON only 'estimated the amount of the remissions at 15,700,000/. A portion of this, he calculated, would be supplied by increased consump- tion; 14,000,000/. must be raised by a tax on Property. Into the nature of this tax he did not enter ; but Wit were what is generally understood by a Property-tax, the highest rate in the graduated scale must not be far short of 30 per cent. If, as would appear from some parts of his speech, he contemplated an Income-tax, the higher rates must be carried up to 20 per cent. to make
taking the average of the highest and lowest graduation—realize as much as the last impost of this nature yielded at 10 per cent. Independently of the objections to the inquisitorial nature of an Income-tax, such a percentage as this, levied upon profits, would -drive all productive capital susceptible of easy removal from the .country, and perhaps create greater evils than those which the -commutation professed to remedy.
There are also other objections, of a more detailed nature, .t/3 Mr. ROBINSON'S budget. The duties on Printed Goods, Vine- .gar, and Sweets and Meads, are the most absurd yet at the same time the least productive of the Excise-duties. These he would allow to remain. By totally repealing the Malt-tax, the whole of the expensive and vexatious Excise machinery must be kept up to collect the duty on Gin and Whisky, and some 120,0001. yielded by the three first-mentioned articles. In the Customs, -all the duties on the materials of manufacture (Cotton-wool excepted) would remain. No provision is made for reducing the cost of collecting the Customs revenue by simplifying the re- gulations, and getting rid of those petty duties which cost as much to collect as they produce. By overlooking the effects of the exorbitant rate of duty on Foreign Spirits and Tobacco, the Mem- ber for Worcester would have retained one of the greatest blots in our financial system, by which nearly three-quarters of a million is annually expended, and all the moral and social evils of smug- gling are directly encouraged, in order to realize (after paying the cost of collection) some 600,000/. or 700,000/. more revenue than would be produced by moderate duties. Some very objectionable taxes were altogether unnoticed, though more directly connected with productive industry than either Tea or Sugar. We allude to the duties on Auctions and Stage-coaches and to the oppressive taxes on both Fire and Marine Insurances. - The remainder of the debate was not altogether creditable to the Reformed Parliament. Mr. UT A.RBURTON was Shrewd, but crotchety. His notion of commuting all taxes for an Income-tax was more fitted for Utopia than this world. His argument against the repeal. of a mischievous duty yielding a small amount of ,revenue, lest some particular class might complain of the retention ef other taxes (very questionable as to their incidence) yielding ten times its amount, was more ivorthy -of:a rubber-on than a Re- former. His objection to any commutation of the kind sug- gested, drawn from the necessity of still keeping sip the different machinery of collection, comes somewhat late in the day. Since the peace, upwards of thirty-four millions of taxes have been repealed. Had the remissions been conducted on any principle, though of the most obvious and vulgar kind, any one class dt duties might have been altogether abolished, and all the othas classes modified. Had direct taxation, for instance, been deemed the greatest evil, direct taxation might have been got rid of. Had freedom of internal trade been thought the desideratum, the Ex- cise-duties, with all their vexatious and expensive machinery, might have been swept away. Had free intercourse with fo- reigners been considered most advisable, the Custom-duties might have been abolished, and not far short of a million and a half of money saved in the working of that branch of revenue; whilst a sufficient surplus would still have been left to remove all the more objectionable features of whatever class of taxes were retained. But these opportunities have been lost; and we must now aim not at "what is best, but at that which we best can do."
Of the other speeches, Colonel TORRENS'S was perhaps the ablest. Lord ALTHORP'S—though somewhat lame when defend- ing his own consistency—was rather a skilful excuse for re- fusing the inquiry. Considering the real ability of the man, Mr. POULETT THOMSON'S was probably the worst oration. Rarely, perhaps, have official entanglements, and a shift approaching to tergiversation, so entirely paralyzed the faculties of a man possess- ing such comprehensive science and practical skill as the Right Honourable Member for Manchester.
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