FINANCE REPORT, 1786......£.11,867,055* Presented to the House of Commons, May 10, 1791. Report from the Select Commit`tee appointed to examine and state the several accounts and other papers, presented to the House in this Session of Parliament, relating to the public income and expenditure; and to report to the House what has been the whole amount of the public income and expenditure during the last five years, and what may be expected to be the annual amount thereof in future; and also what alteration has taken place in the amount of the public debt, since the 5th day of January 1786. YOU YOUR committee have proceeded to consider the matter referred to them, under the several heads of income, expenditure, and national debt, and have thought it right to state separately, under each of these heads, the result of their inquiries, as it applies either to the last five years, or to the expectation which may be formed for the future. I. INCOME. PAST INCOME. PERMANENT TAXES. 1. The net produce of the different branches of the ordinary revenue (exclusive of land and malt) for each of the five years, from the 6th of January 1786 to the 5th of January 1791, both inclusive, appears to have been, 2. Your committee, observing that the report of the former comnittee, in 1786, has been referred to them, have thought it their duty, in considering the past income of the country, to compare the expectations then formed with the actual produce of the taxes upon which they were grounded. The committee of 1786 proceeded upon a supposition that the permanent taxes then subsisting were likely to produce annually 12,797,4711. It appears that those taxes, according to the best information which your committee have been able to collect, have produced, In 1786......£.11,836,531 1790...... 13,782,393 Making, upon an average, 12,879,308. It is to be observed, that an alteration was made in the horse tax, in the session of 1786, by which persons of certain descriptions were exempted from it; and that, in consequence, the assessment, which in the year ending the 5th day of April, 1787, was 133,0877. in the subsequent year fell to 101,2847. The accounts from the tax office calculate the diminution, by comparing the assessment of 1786 with that of 1789, and make it amount to 37,6871. Some allowance ought evidently * After deducting 522,5001. of respited duties paid by the East India company. evidently to be made for this circumstance; in comparing the produce of the four last years with the expectations of the former committee. But, as a small part of this decrease may be supposed to have arisen, either from the operation of the tax in reducing the number of horses, or from the increase of evasions, which, from information given to your committee, have been considerable, they have not thought proper to state any particular sum on this account. Some farther allowance ought to be made on account of a tax upon linens and stuffs, imposed in 1784, which produced, in 1785, 27,6551. and which was also a part of the income upon which that committee grounded their expectations. This tax was repealed in 1785; and the ad valorem duty, which was imposed in that year to replace it, having proved unproductive, was also repealed by the consolidation act in 1787. § 3. It appears that the committee of 1786, in addition to their calculation of the general produce of the permanent taxes, had made a particular estimate of what might be expected to be raised by certain duties, the future annual produce of which they considered as likely to be different from their actual amount in the year immediately preceding. These duties were expected to produce annually 2,107,1861. And have produced upon an average 2,122,6007., notwithstanding the diminution of the horse tax. ANNUAL TAXES. therto confined themselves in their statements, to the permanent taxes. With respect to those which are annually granted, the land tax, after deducting all the charges previous to its coming into the exchequer, except the payments on account of the militia, was calculated at 1,967,6501. This estimate was formed upon the average produce of the aids for the seven years from 1776 to 1782, both inclusive, upon which the payments were supposed to be complete at the period to which the accounts before that committee referred. It appears, however, that, subsequent to this period, a sum of 34,1061. was received on account of the aids for the said seven years, which would have made an addition of 4,8727. to the average stated by them, and would have raised their calculation to 1,972,5221. From the manner in which this duty is collected, the accounts of the payments of the aids granted for the service of the years 1789 and 1790 cannot yet be made up, and there are still some small arrears on the aids of 1787 and 1788. Your committee, however, think it right to observe, that the sum charged annually upon the country on account of the land tax, is exactly the same, and is subject to no other deductions (except the payments for the militia) than what arises from the poundage, which is also invariable, and from some other small charges, the fluctuations of which do not appear to have been such as to deserve particular notice. Whatever, therefore, may be the accidental variations in the times of payment, the § 4. Your committee have hi- real produce on account of each year 5. Your committee proceeded to consider what may be expected to be the future income of the country. And in order to estimate the produce of the permanent taxes, they have not thought it necessary to go back to a more distant period than three years. The successive alterations which have taken place in various branches of the revenue, the material changes arising from the consolidation act, and from the commercial treaty with France, and the particular circumstances attending the preceding years, seem to make a more remote retrospect inapplicable to this view of the subject. The produce of the permanent taxes, from the 6th day of January 1788, to the 5th day of January The average of those three years would then be 13,472,2861. It is also to be observed, on the other hand, that, in order to form as accurate a calculation as possible, some addition ought to be allowed for beyond this average, on account of whatever may be the excess of the taxes imposed in 1789, above what may be sufficient to replace the shop tax, which was repealed in that year. It appears, that the actual receipt on account of those taxes cannot be accurately ascertained; but if a calculation were to be formed, by deducting from the produce of the three last years what was received on account of the shop tax, and what is calculated to have been received on account of the duties imposed in 1789, and by substituting in each year what may be expected as the future produce of the last-mentioned duties, the result would be an addition to the average of between 20,000l. and 30,000l. But, from the shortness of the period since they were imposed, the several accounts from the stamp and tax offices do not appear sufficiently clear and distinct, to enable your committee to state any precise sum upon this account. A similar observation arises from the increase of the revenue upon the article of tobacco, since it has been put under the management of the excise; and though your committee are here also unwilling to hazard any particular calculation, it may be supposed, from the papers referred to, that if this regulation, which took place only in October 1789, had existed during the whole of the three years, it would have added a considerable sum to the average above stated. ANNUAL TAXES. LAND TAX. In considering what is to be taken on account of the land tax, your committee have adopted the estimate already mentioned, for the reasons there given, and state it 1,972,000l. at not being, like that of the land tax, uniform in its amount, can only be estimated from some former average. If this estimate were formed from its produce in 1786, 1787, and 1788, the result would be 597,171/. But as the reasons which led the committee to confine their consideration of the permanent taxes to three years, do not apply to this, it may be proper to include a greater number of years in the average; especially as the produce of this duty depends so much on the variations of the seasons. If taken upon an average of the last complete five years, included in the account given in, it would amount to about 586,000l. The total average arising from the permanent taxes, and the an nual duties upon land and malt, exclusive of any additional allowance for the taxes imposed in 1789, or for the increase upon tobacco, would be, upon the above estimate, Permanent taxes £.13,472,286 Land tax Malt duty 1,972,000 586,000 £. 16,030,286 6. Your committee are sensible, that any estimate which can be formed of the future produce of number of articles, and necessarily a revenue, arising from so great a varying with the fluctuations of an in its nature to uncertainty. They extensive commerce, must be liable think it right, however, to remark, that the average on which they have grounded their expectations, The produce of the duty on malt, is formed upon a revenue which MALT DUTY. has bas been annually increasing; and that a considerable proportion of this increase (as appears from the papers referred to) has taken place upon articles of general consumption; and particularly upon those to which the attention of parliament has lately been directed. EXTRAORDINARY RESOURCES. 7. Your committee, having stated all that they think necessary to observe relative to the past or future produce both of the permanent taxes, and of those which, though annually voted, form a part of the ordinary income of the country, have judged it proper, before they proceed to the other branches of their inquiry, to take notice of such extraordinary resources, exclusive of money raised by loans, as have arisen during the period referred to them. There appears to have been ap plied to the public service. From respited duties paid in by the East-India company of 522,500l. From arrears of aids of land tax granted prior to 1786, 131,467. Ditto malt, ditto 14,875l. From sums remaining in the exchequer on the 5th day of Jan. 1786, 1,172,1197. From imprest monies, and monies repaid 820,165l. From money repaid on account of an advance for foreign secret service 34,000l. From sale of French prizes 3,0002. From army savings, and Chelsea pensioners 1,091,1477. And from profit on the annual lottery' 1,212,692. From the nature of the articles which have composed these extraordinary aids, it is evidently impossible to form any estimate of what farther receipt may be expect. ed under such of those heads as can recur in future. The repayment of imprest and other monies may still be supposed to yield some additional sums; but as these principally arise from the settlement of accounts for monies issued during the last war, this resource cannot be relied on for any length of time; and even while it lasts must be expected to become every year less productive. The extent of the resource of a lottery (which has become within these few years an object of increased importance) necessarily depends upon circumstances, which make it impossible to form any certain estimate of the profit to be expected from it but there is no apparent reason to imagine, that, as long as parliament thinks proper to avail itself of this mode of raising money, it may not continue to furnish as large a sum in time of peace as it has lately produced.No notice is here taken of army savings, as they are allowed for, to a certain extent, in the army estimates. II. EXPEN * Permanent taxes, and land and malt, without any deduction on account of the fifty-third weekly payment. 5 years average £.15,618,775 15,917,205 16,062,562 16,311,023 16,630,978 |