HC Deb 05 March 1900 vol 80 cc147-53

2. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That in addition to the duties of customs now payable on tobacco imported into Great Britain or Ireland, there shall, on and after the sixth day of March, nineteen hundred, and until the first day of August, nineteen hundred and one, be charged, levied, and paid the following duties (that is to say):—

£ s. d.
Tobacco, manufactured, namely:—
Cigars the pound 0 0 6
Cavendish or negrohead the pound 0 0 6
Cavendish or negrohead, manufactured in bond the pound 0 0 5
Other manufactured tobacco the pound 0 0 5
Snuff containing more than thirteen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 5
Snuff not containing more than thirteen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 6

Tobacco, unmanufactured namely:—

£ s. d.
Containing ten pounds or more of moisture in every hundred pounds weight thereof} the pound 0 0 4
Containing less than ten pounds of moisture in every the pound one hundred pounds weight thereof} the pound 0 0 4

—(Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer.)

MR. WILLIAM REDMOND (Clare, E.)

I beg to move to leave out "five-pence" and insert "one penny" in the clause relating to tobacco manufactured in bond. I do not object at all to that part of the right hon. Gentleman's resolution dealing with tobacco which proposes to put a tax of 6d.on imported foreign cigars. That appears to me to be a luxury which, I think, those who indulge in can very well afford to pay for. I am sorry also that the right hon. Gentleman has not pursued more generally the policy of taxation of luxuries. In dealing with this resolution I do not suppose I would be quite in order to refer to it, but I must say that when spirits, and more particularly beer, the drink of the people of this country, is taxed, and we find absolutely not a single penny of additional taxation is put on foreign wines, it is a very extraordinary thing. I think it would be only a fair and reasonable provision that some tax should be put on foreign wines, which are only taken by the wealthier classes. Tobacco is perhaps the only luxury which is indulged in by the masses of the people. Tobacco is the very last article of consumption which ought to have been subjected to a tax of this kind. I do not go into the causes which have rendered this fresh taxation necessary, but I do think that it is a hard thing upon the masses of this enormously wealthy country, when millions upon millions have to be raised for the purpose of defraying the cost of a war in which I do not believe the working people of the country take so much interest as is imagined, that a tax should be put upon tobacco. Why does not the right hon. Gentleman put a heavier tax than he proposes to put on imported foreign cigars? Gentlemen who can afford to pay 1s. 1s. 6d., and 2s. for a cigar which takes ten minutes to smoke can very well afford to pay additional taxation; but it is rather hard upon a working man who can ill spare very often a few pence to buy half an ounce of shag to find that he is called upon to bear a large share of the taxation of this war. As the hon. Member for Devonport pointed out—and it was the only thing he said with which I concurred—this additional taxation will be made to come upon the consumer. Some time ago, when the tax upon tobacco was remitted to some extent, the whole of that went to the retailer and

not to the consumer. No one discovered any decrease in the price of tobacco over the counter at the time the tax was taken off. In regard to the paying of the expense of the war, I wish remind the House that when the war broke out the Government of the Republic, from President Kruger down to the humblest official, all reduced their salaries to one-seventh of what they were. I think it would be a noble spectacle to the masses of the people of this country, who are called upon to pay additional taxation on tea and tobacco, if a heroic and patriotic sacrifice were made by Her Majesty's Government in the same manner, each of whom could got on very well until this war is over with £500 instead of £5,000. However, I suppose that is too much to expect, and all I can do is to enter my protest against this increase in the tax on tobacco.

Amendment proposed— In lines 9 and 10 (cavendish or negrohead, manufactured in bond, the pound), to leave out the words 'five pence,' and insert the words 'one penny.'"—(Mr. William Redmond.)

Question put, "That the words 'five pence' stand part of the Question.'

The Committee divided:—Ayes, 247; Noes, 30. (Division List No. 54.)

Main Question again proposed.

Another Amendment proposed— In line 24 (tobacco unmanufactured, etc., containing less than ten pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof), to leave out the words 'four pence,' and insert the words 'one penny.'"—(Mr. Patrick O'Brien.)

Question proposed, "That the words" 'four pence' stand part of the Question."

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Resolved, That in addition to the duties of Customs now payable on tobacco imported into Great Britain or Ireland, there shall, on and after the sixth day of March, nineteen hundred, and until the first day of August, nineteen hundred and one, be charged, levied, and paid the following duties (that is to say):—

£ s. d.
Tobacco, manufactured, viz.:—
Cigars the pound 0 0 6
Cavendish or negrohead the pound 0 0 6
Cavendish or negrohead, manufactured in bond the pound 0 0 5
Other manufactured Tobacco the pound 0 0 5
Snuff containing more than thirteen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 5
Snuff not containing more than thirteen pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 6
Tobacco, unmanufactured, viz.:—
Containing ten pounds or more of moisture in every hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 4
Containing less than ten pounds of moisture in every one hundred pounds weight thereof the pound 0 0 4

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