§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONI beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he will inform the House of the amount of local taxation, either before or on the same night as the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes his Budget statement, in order that the House may know the full amount of the public burdens, local and Imperial, before assenting to the taxation for the year?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. SHAW LEFEVRE, Bradford, Central)Somewhat similar questions were asked by the hon. Member in 1892 and 1893; and I can only repeat the answers which were then given, viz., that the great complexity of local expenditure, the very large number (28,000) of the Local Authorities from whom accounts have to be obtained, and the length of time necessarily occupied in the audit of those accounts, made it impossible to present to the House, in connection with the Budget statement, a statement of the expenditure and indebtedness of Local Authorities similar to that furnisher with regard to Imperial finance. Very full and detailed statements on the subject are supplied by the Local Taxation Returns presented to the House.