Revenue Returns and Budget Prospects The revenue returns of the
financial year now ended show a surplus of £7.561,879, and this in spite of the fact that more than £12,000,000, not provided for in the Budget, have been applied to the redemption of debt, and in spite of additional commitments dealt with in supplementary estimates. In all nearly 120,000,000 will have been applied to debt redemption. The returns from Income Tax alone exceeded the estimate by over 19,000,000. As this, in the main, was paid from income earned in 1933, when trade improvement was only beginning, it is reasonable to hope that the revenue receipts in the coming year from this source will be con- siderably bigger. On the other hand, there is heavy expenditure ahead. The Defence Services alone will require an additional £10,500,000. The Distressed Areas will require money. Public Assistance may cost more. And the Government has incurred heavy commitments in respect of subsidies. The upshot seems to be that no reduction in the basic rate of Income Tax may be expected in the coining Budget. But there will be great disappoint- ment if the remaining half of the wage cuts made in 1931 are not restored—and this constitutes the first claim for relief—and, secondly, if the Income Tax allowances are not brought nearer to the early 1931 level.
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