The proposal which Mr. Goschen makes as to the Local
Budget is to hand over (after the first year) one-half of the Probate-duty to the Local Councils, and to assign to them old licences (chiefly publicans' licences) amounting to £3,000,000, and new licences amounting to £800,000 more, or £3,800,000 in licences. The half of the Probate-duty would amount to 21,700,000 at once, and would probably be an increasing revenue. These together reach the sum of £5,500,000. But the present grants in aid of local pm-poses would cease, which would diminish the gain of the ratepayers by these grants (£2,600,000), and there remains, therefore, a net gain in relief of local taxation of £2,900,000, or say, roughly, of £3,000,000, if the Probate-duty may be regarded as an increasing revenue. Mr. Goschen protested against the notion that the relief would go chiefly to the rich. On the contrary, he held that it would relieve chiefly the ratepayers of the poorest districts, and be a definite gain to the poorest classes.
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