HC Deb 13 April 1899 vol 69 cc994-5

Sir, a year ago I framed my Estimates of revenue in circumstances of doubt and difficulty. I had, on the one side, to consider wars and rumours of wars; on the other, I was face to face with the remarkable result of three very prosperous years. It seemed to me on the whole that it was not creditable to the financial foresight either of myself or my predecessor that the Estimates of revenue in three successive years should have been surpassed by the actual receipts by no less a sum than £5,812,000, £3,470,000, and £3,570,000 respectively, and I felt myself justified in being sanguine in my Estimates for the year just closed. Of course, Sir, at the time, and ever since, up to within the last few weeks, all the pundits told me that I was wrong. They insisted that my estimates were over-sanguine; that there was certain to be a deficit; and that the only question was the amount of that deficit. And there were other critics who told me that my proposal to reduce taxation was absolutely unjustifiable in the face of a certain increase in the expenditure of the year. I said nothing. I do not much care for criticism; but now, after the event, I think I can say that I was right and that all my critics were wrong. It is true that the expenditure increased beyond my original estimate, but it is also true that the revenue exceeded my Estimate, and the result has been a realised surplus, small, but sufficient, on the right side, and I am en-titled to whatever credit a Chancellor of the Exchequer may claim—a credit which I must honestly say belongs far more properly to his permanent assistants—for not extracting from the pockets of the taxpayers more than is required for the necessities of the country in the year. The total revenue received in the year just closed was £117,857,000, as against £116,016,000 in the previous year. Of that sum £9,521,000 went to the local taxation account, £119,000 more than the previous year; and the Exchequer receipts were £108,336,000, as against £106,614,000 in the previous year, or more by £1,226,000 than the Budget estimate of £107,110,000. That is a satisfactory growth of the revenue, and it is an enormous amount of revenue. I think that it may warn us to be careful how we part from the old-established financial policy of the country and embark on a new departure in the matter of our fiscal system. But I have one word of caution to add. The rate of growth during the year was considerable, but, having carefully looked into the matter, I do not think that the rate of growth with regard to some important heads of revenue was proportionately so great, or the expansion so vigorous, as in the three years ending with 1898. Therefore, though I shall be hopeful of a considerable increase in the coming year, I shall not put my estimates too high.

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