HC Deb 18 April 1907 vol 172 cc1181-2

Now I come to the estimated revenue of the country. In regard to that, it is to be remembered that next year is leap year, will have one less Sunday than the past year, and contains no Eastertide. That makes a serious difference to the Exchequer, because it means a gain of two working days. On the other hand, we have lost the coal duty which we had for seven months during the past year, and we have lost the extra penny of the tea duty which was in force for the first six weeks of the last financial year. Perhaps it will be convenient if I give the figures and then make such comments as I have to make. Customs, £31,740,000, showing a diminution, owing to the causes I have mentioned, of £1,190,000; excise, £30,600,000, an increase of £250,000; estate duties, £13,600,000, a diminution (because we cannot reckon on a continuance of this abnormal mortality among the very rich) of £800,000; stamps, £8,000,000, a small increase of £50,000; land tax, £700,000, house duty, £1,900,000, a decrease in the former, and an increase in the other which practically balance one another; and then the important item of property and income-tax, £32,500,000, or an increase of £900,000 on the amount received last year. That gives a total estimated tax revenue of £119,040,000, or a diminution as compared with the tax revenue of last year of £790,000. Then I come to the non-tax revenue—Post Office, £17,600,000, an increase of £430,000; telegraphs, £4,400,000, an increase of £145,000; Crown lands, £500,000, a diminution of £20,000; receipts from Suez Canal snares, £1,100,000, an increase of £2,000; and miscellaneous, £1,550,000, a decrease of £391,000, which I have already explained in dealing with the Mint. The total non-tax revenue is estimated to be £25,150,000, or an increase of £166,000 as compared with the preceding year. Adding these figures together, you get a total Exchequer revenue of £144,190,000, or a diminution as compared with the preceding year of £624,000.