I. An Account of the NETT PRODUCE of the PUBLIC REVENUE in Great Britain and Ireland, in the year ended 5th January 1818, compared with the Estimate presented in the Fourth Report of the Committee of Finance. II. An Account of the NETT PRODUCE of the PUBLIC REVENUE in Great Britain and Ireland, in the year ended 5th April 1818, compared with the Estimate presented in the Fourth Report of the Committee of Finance. An Account of the NETT PRODUCE of the PUBLIC REVENUE of Great Britain and Ireland, in the quarters ended the 5th April 1817, and 5th April 1818, respectively; exclusive of the War Malt Duty and Property Tax. GREAT BRITAIN.-(Appendix, C. 1.) 5th April 1817. 5th April 1818. ...£. 2,003,664 5,151,805 1,095,709 1,588,759 336,000 73,283 £.10,249,220 68,580 From the foregoing Accounts it appears, that in Great Britain the total permanent revenue for the year 1817, fell short of the estimate by 1,984,5467., which £. 2,261,951 being more than compensated by a receipt of 2,261,9517. of arrears of Property Tax, and of 68,5801. of other unappropriated War Duties, making £.2,330,531 together 2,330,531, there was upon the whole, an excess beyond the estimate of 345,9857.; while in Ireland there was a deficit of 585,8891., from which the above excess being deducted, the difference between the estimate of the Committee and the actual produce of the revenue in the United Kingdom, is exhibited by the remainder; being only 239,904, upon a sum of 51,905,000l. £.585,889 Receipt in Ireland, less than Estimate. 345,985 Do. in England, more than Estiinate. L. 239,904 Total less than Esti mate. It also appears, that in the year ended the 5th April 1818, a considerable improvement had already taken place in the revenue, inasmuch as the difference between the receipt and the estimate in Great Britain is, in that period, reduced to 1,245,550.; and although the sum yielded by the arrears of the Property Tax was, in L. 1,522,648 that year, only 1,522,648/., and by the other unappropriated War Duties 39,0687., making together 1,561,7167., there was still an excess of produce, £. 1,561,716 upon the whole, beyond the estimate, of 316,166/. 39,008 In Ireland the revenue has likewise experienced some improvement in this period, although not in the same proportion as it has improved in Great Estimate........ £. 529,131 than Estimate .... 316,166 Britain. The amount appears to have been 529,1317. below Receipt in Ireland less than the estimate, which being set against the total excess in Great Do. in England more Britain as above stated, (of 316,1667.) leaves only 212,965. as the whole difference between the actual receipts of the year ended the 5th of April 1818, and the estimate of the Committee for the United Kingdom. Total less than Esti- £.212,965 The rapid amendment of the revenue, which these accounts exhibit in the latter part of the period which they embrace, is more particularly and satisfactorily shown by the third statement, in which the income in the quarter which closed on the 5th April, 1818, is compared with that which was yielded in the corresponding quarter of the year 1817. From this account, the arrears of the Property Tax and the other war duties are excluded, in order to show the real improvement of those duties only which now constitute the permanent revenue. The result of this comparison is a balance in favour of the quarter ended the 5th April, 1818, for Great Britain, of 739,0091., and for Ireland, of 56,7607.; making, upon the whole, an excess of 795,7691. An excess of actual receipt which would have been considerably greater if the produce of the sugar duties had been divided in the same proportion in the present as in the last year, between the two quarters ended the 5th January and the 5th April. But in consequence of the expected rise in the average price of sugar to that point at which it becomes chargeable with an additional duty of 3s. per cwt. a great quantity then in bond was taken out for home consumption, immediately before the close of the quarter ended the 5th January last; from which period the additional duty, as had been foreseen by the merchants, became payable. By this anticipated payment of the duties, the produce of that quarter was greatly swelled, and a corresponding deficit pecasioned in the produce of the succeeding quarter. With a view to satisfy themselves upon this point, your Committee called for an account of the nett payments into the Exchequer, under the head of Sugar Duties, in the two quarters ended the 5th January and the 5th April 1817, and 1818 respectively; from which it appears that the total amount of the duty, in the half-year ended the 5th April 1817, was 1,681,7681., of which 810,9414. was received in the April quarter; while of the total amount of the duty in the half-year ended the 5th April 1818, viz. 1,837,479., the receipt in the last quarter amounted only to 308,180/. Had the same proportion prevailed in both cases, the amount would have been, in the latter, 886,012., exceeding the actual payment on account of this duty by 577,832., and consequently augmenting in the same degree, the excess as above stated of 795,7697. of the total receipts of the quarter ended the 5th April 1818, beyond those of the 5th April 1817. Your Committee would not, indeed, be disposed to lay much stress upon the melioration of the revenue in a single quarter, or to build, upon that circumstance alone, a very sanguine hope of permanent amendment, sufficient to carry the public income to the full extent of their estimate, if it were not manifestly the consequence of an extensive and important change in the general condition of the country, such as your Committee anticipated, when they presented their fourth Report to the House. The nature of this change in the internal state of the kingdom, or rather of this return from a sudden and violent change in a contrary direction, is too well known and felt by the House and the country, to render it necessary to dwell upon it; they therefore confine themselves to some observations arising out of the accounts before them, which, when examined in their component parts, afford more satisfactory evidence of improvement than even in their total amounts. In the first place, it is deserving of remark, that of the several branches of the public income, which are distinguished in the foregoing comparative statements, there are only two, either in the year ended the 5th January, or in that which terminated on the 5th April, that have proved deficient below the average upon which_the estimate of the Committee was founded. These are, the Excise, and the Post Office; while, on the other hand, the Customs, the Assessed Taxes, the Stamps, and the Miscellaneous Receipts, have all exceeded the average in both periods; for, although it appears that the Customs in Ireland did not, in either case, quite reach the estimate for that country, yet, when added to the produce of the same revenue in Great Britain, the whole will be seen to have exceeded the amount of the estimate of the Great Britain and Ireland. Total Revenue, } Estimate of the Years Ended, 5 Jan. 1818. 5 Apr. 1818. L. 27,477,983 Committee, ex-26,669,479 £.808,504 £. 26,669,479 1,011,398 customs for Great Britain and Ireland taken together. It may further be observed, that if the excise be excluded from these comparative accounts, the remaining branches of the revenue, 27,680,877 collectively, will be found, notwithstanding the defalcation of the Post Office, to have exceeded the Estimate, in the year ended the 5th January 1818, by 808,504/., and in the year ended the 5th April 1818, by 1,011,398. If, therefore, there is a reasonable ground for presuming that the excise will be again as productive as it has been on the average of former years as stated by your Committee in their fourth Report, it may fairly be expected that the whole revenue will not only attain, but considerably exceed, the amount at which it has been taken by your Committee. With a view to ascertain the probability of this point, your Committee have had under their consideration the accounts of the nett produce of the Excise, exclusive of the war duty on malt, in Great Britain, in the years and quarters ended the 5th January and 5th April 1818, as compared with the same in the years and quarters ended the 5th January and 5th April 1817; and having perceived that, in these accounts, the articles most prominently deficient were those of malt and beer, they called for an account of the malt duties received in the years 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, and 1817, exclusive of the war duty upon malt, which has since expired; and they likewise called for an account of the nett produce of the duties on beer in the same periods. Duty on Malt. Years 1813 ........ 1814 ........ 1815.....*** Average 2,953,585 From these documents it appears, that the produce of the 2,482,086 Malt Tax, according to the average of the three years which 3,106,427 preceded the very unfavourable harvest of 1816, amounted to 2,847,366/., whereas the actual receipt, in the year ended the £. 8,542,098 5th April 1818, was only 1,954,0901. This leaves a difference ...... 2,847,366 of 893,2761. this head alone; a difference which, when it is considered, in conjunction with the defalcation of the beer £. 893,276 duty, measured by the same average, and amounting to Difference.. 1,954,090 upon Beer Duties. 451,949%. (a considerable proportion of which must be ascribed to the same cause), will account for a deficiency more than equal to that of the whole nett revenue of Great Britain, in the last year, under consideration, below the estimate of the Committee, viz. 1,245,000l. 1813, 1814, & 1815, 2,785,361 Produce of the Year,? euded 5 April 1818, Do. 2,333,412 £. 451,949 Beer Duty.. 451,949 £. 1,345,325 It is scarcely necessary for your Committee to remark, that Deficiency Malt Duty.. 893,276 the depression which has continued to affect these particular duties, after other parts of the revenue, arising from consumption, have been rapidly returning to their average productiveness, is one which the course of the seasons sufficiently explains, and may be expected to repair; so that, if there is no reason to apprehend a falling off in the other articles subject to excise duties, below even their present amount, it may fairly be presumed, that the public income will maintain itself to the extent of the estimate of the Committee; while, on the other hand, every improvement of the remainder of the excise duties, will have the effect of carrying it beyond that estimate, in whatever degree such improvement may take place. In this view, the several accounts of the excise revenue, now before the Committee, are very satisfactory, inasmuch as they not only afford no indication of any general decline in that branch of the public income, but on the contrary, exhibit, in the latest period, an appearance of improvement upon nearly all the articles composing it, which forms a remarkable contrast to the result of the accounts of this branch (and that of the customs) when your Committee were last engaged in the investigation of this subject; upon which they had to observe, that the deficiency in the year 1816, below former years, "did not appear to have arisen upon a few only "of the articles subject to duty (which might have been influenced by particular "causes) but in a greater or less degree upon almost the whole of those which con"stituted the excise revenue." At the present time, on the contrary, the increase is as general as the defalcation was at that period; and as the only material articles now remaining deficient are depressed, as above adverted to, by a particular and merely temporary cause, your Committee trust they will not be thought too sanguine when they anticipate the speedy return of this branch of the public income to its usual rate of productiveness. In the examination of these accounts, your Committee have seen with satisfaction, that the duties upon some articles (particularly tea, tobacco, and spirits) which from their nature, and the very high amount of those duties, your Committee conceived to be peculiarly exposed to the practices of the fraudulent trader, have, nevertheless, been productive in the same proportion as the revenue in general, and appear to be improving in common with the duties derived from other objects of consumption. Your Committee are not prepared by any farther information than they possessed last year (beyond the inference to be drawn from the facts above-mentioned) to state an opinion as to the ultimate practicability of maintaining those duties at their present high rates; and they have thought it the less necessary to pursue their inquiries into this question, because they understand, that the general system and management of the revenue of customs, and of the import branch of the excise, to which it principally belongs, is now undergoing a special investigation by a commission appointed by the lords of the Treasury for the purpose. Having thus stated to the House how far the public accounts up to the latest periods, have tended to verify the estimate of public income framed last year by your Committee, and having explained the grounds upon which their opinion of the general accuracy of that estimate, and the probability of its being fully realized, is strengthened and confirmed; they now propose to compare the actual expenditure of the year 1817, and the probable expenditure of the year 1818, with the expenditure assumed for those two years in their fourth Report, and the actual and estimated income of each of them respectively. |