242 ENGLAND [REVENUE. Surplus and de ficit periods. Sources of reve nue in 1876-77, 1869-70, when the excess of revenue over expenditure amounted to 6,569,500, and the next largest in the financial year 1844-45, when the excess of income over expenditure was 6, 342, 436. On the other hand, the greatest deficit showed itself in the financial year 1855-56, when unforeseen war expenses brought the revenue below the expenditure to the extent of 22,723,854. The fifteen years from 1863 to 1877 showed all, with the exception of two, 1868 and 1869, a surplus of revenue over expenditure. The following table gives the official account of the gross sources of revenue of the United Kingdom for the financial year ended March 31, 1877 :
Customs 19,922,000 Excise 27,736,000 Stamps 10,890,000 Land Tax and House. Duty 2,532,000 Property and Income Tax 5,280,000 Post Office 6,000,000 Telegraph Service 1,305,000 Crown Lands (Net) 410.000 Miscellaneous : Military and Naval extra Receipts, and Proceeds of Old Stores sold Amount received from the Revenues of India on account of Charges for British Troops Interest on Public Loans Interest on the Purchase Money of the Suez Canal Shares Allowance out of Profits of Issue received from Bank of England .... Saving on vote of credit for Ashantee war Other Miscellaneous Receipts 906,769 868,330 654,572 139,110 138,578 12,197 ,770.480 4,490,034 Total Revenue ............................. 78,565,036 Brandies The following table gives the official account of the gross of expen- expenditure of the United Kingdom for the financial year March 31 1877 : ~ Debt. Interest and Management of the Per- | 01 K00 non manent Debt ........................... j 21 . 5 88,982 Terminable Annuities .................... 5,374,198 Interest of Exchequer Bills ............ 1 03,912 Interest of Bank Advances for De ficiency .................................. New Sinking Fund ....................... 8,127 624,781 Interest on Local Loans Interest, &c., on Exchequer Bonds (Suez). Charges on Consolidated Fund. Civil List Annuities and Pensions Salaries and Allowances Courts of Justice Miscellaneous Charges 27,700,000 142,921 149,912 406,710 316,669 96,850 631.791 143,018 Supply Services. Army 15,251,355 Charges for troops in India 170,000 Army Purchase Commission 498,362 Navy 11,364,383 Ashantee Expedition 2,017 Miscellaneous Civil Services 13,333,851 Customs and Inland Revenue 2,766,279 Post-Office 3,159,218 Telegraph Service 1,141,000 Packet Service 850,890 1,595,039 48,537,355 Total Expenditure 78,125,227 The surplus for the financial year 1876-77 amounted to 439,809, being less than in any of the preceding five years. In the budget estimates for 1877-78 the total revenue was calculated at 79,020,000. and the total ex penditure at 78,794,044, leaving a surplus of 225,956. About three-fourths of the total revenue of the United Kingdom are derived from three sources of income excise, customs duties, and stamps. In the sixteen financial years sources from 1 861-62 the revenue from the excise increased greatly, of reve and that from customs declined, while that from stamps m increased moderately. The following table shows the receipts from these main sources of revenue for every third year from 1861-62 to 1876-77 : Years ended 31st March. Excise. Customs. Stamps.
1862 18,332,000 23,674,000 8,590,945 1865 19,558,000 22,572,000 9,530,000 1868 20,162,000 22,650,000 9.541,000 1871 22,788,000 20,191,000 9,007.000 1874 1 27,172,000 20,339,000 10,550,000 1877 | 27,736,000 19,922,000 10,890,000 Excise. The vast increase in the receipts from the excise The ex during the sixteen years from 1862 to 1877 was due solely clse as to the corresponding increase in the consumption of spiritu- ^"^ ous liquors. The increase was greatest in the receipts from spirits, which rose from 9,618,291 in 1861-62 to 14,873,165 in 1876-77. The excise receipts from malt grew from 5,866,302 in 1861-62 to 8,040,378; and those from licences to make and sell spirits and malt liquors from 1,500,613 in 1861-62 to 3,548,557 in 1876-77. In the latter financial year the receipts from the excise had come to represent already considerably more than one-third of the total revenue, and should the growth, very steady and regular from year to year, continue at the rate shown in the preceding table, it will not be long before one-half of the national income will be raised by the voluntary taxa tion of the consumers of alcoholic liquors. Customs. The decline in the receipts from customs Heceipl during the period 1862 to 1877 was due entirely to a con- fromci1 stant reduction of duties. Those on tea were reduced in 1862, causingaloss to the revenueof 1,641,541 ; andagain in 1864, when the loss was 2, 214, 981. The duties on sugar were also greatly reduced in 1863, the loss to the customs being 1,741,272; and again in 1872, with a loss of 1,612,882; while the small remnant of the old duties on corn was repealed in 1868, at a loss of 855,581; and the example was followed in the case of the sugar duties, the last of which was abolished in 1875. Thus the sugar duties, producing 6,383,289 in 1861-62, brought nothing in 1876-77, while the tea duties fell from 5,516,584 to 3,723,147. Alone of all the customs duties, those on foreign spirits and wine increased during the period, not withstanding the latter article also underwent a reduction of duties. Together, the foreign wine and spirits duties produced 3,753,785 in the financial year 1840-41, and 7,507,807 in 1876-77. Adding this sum to the excise receipts, the total revenue derived from spirituous liquors in the financial year 1876-77 was no less than 35,243,807, or nearly three-sevenths of the national revenue. The subjoined table exhibits the changes effected in the Change; national revenue by either the repeal or reduction of taxes, i!1 taxa and the imposition or re-imposition of old and new ones, t10 " during the period from 1861-62 to 1876-77 : Repealed or Reduced. Imposed. Actual Diminution ( ) or Addition (+) Custosis
14 263 282
11 034
- 14 252 248 Excise I ssijooo 1,870,000 + 489,000 Property and Income Tax 17,158,000 7,916,000 - 9,242,000 Other Taxes 1 272 933 - 1,272,933 Stamps (including (Succession Duty) . . . 2,427,400 20,500 - 2,406,900 Total 36 502,615 9,817,534
-26,685,081