The Irish Free State Government has issued Estimates for the
coming year amounting to 142,000,000. This exceeds by £10,000,000 the highest cost of Government under British rule. Moreover, the cost of British rule was for the whole of Ireland. The Free State revenue is estimated at about /27,000,000. A probable deficit of about £15,000,000 has thus to be faced. Taxation in the Free State will probably be higher than in England. When the Free State was set up some Ulster loyalists naturally pulled a wry face at the spectacle of sedition being rewarded in the Free State by freedom from British taxation. Loyalty, they pointed out, was rewarded by the obligation to pay the full British tax. Only a year has passed and every Ulsterman is con- gratulating himself that he will not be assessed for the Free State taxation. We felt sure that this would happen, but we did not foresee that it would happen quite so soon.
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