A hundred years ago
The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward his Budget on Thursday night, in a speech received with a good deal of derision by the House. When some one from outside asked at its close whether the cat was out of the bag, the reply was -there is no cat, not even a kitten. And unless the increase of the tax on cigars from 5s. 4d. to 5s. 6d., and a small tax on cocoa-paste are to be called kittens so it certainly was. Sir S. Northcote had, in fact, to avow that while he was getting deeper into arrears year by year, he had no intention of proposing any addition to taxation that would enable him to meet those arrears. The Revenue had reached £83,115,972, showing a very small deficit of £114,028 on the estimate. The Expenditure, on the other hand, proved to be £85,407,000, showing an increase of expenditure over estimate of £4,388,000. As compared with the yield of Revenue, therefore, the deficiency for last year is about £2,292,000. However, in expectation of a General Election, the country must not be irritated by more taxes.
Spectator, 5 April 1879
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