Mr. CHAMBERLAINI will indicate very shortly the effect of the proposal on the revenue of the current year. I put my estimate of the revenue from beer on the existing basis of taxation at £37,800,000, and by the existing basis I mean the existing barrelage and the existing rate of duty before any alterations are made. Any increase of output, of course, increases the yield of the tax quite apart from any increase in duty. In estimating the additional revenue I shall secure, I have to take account of both the increased number of barrels on which duty will be paid and of the increased rate of duty on each barrel so charged, and I estimate the combined effect of these two increases at £31,200,000 for a full year and for the current short year £22,200,000.
I should, perhaps, add—in fact, the Government desire that I should add—that, as I think the Committee know, the character of the control to be exercised over the trade in alcoholic drink is now exercising the attention of His Majesty's Government. That is not wholly or mainly a revenue matter; but we think it right to say that, should at some future time a yet further increase of barrelage be allowed, that would be a fair reason for a still further increase in taxation.
In this connection I have one small change to propose, with the object of bringing the charges on beer made in private houses into some kind of correlation with the increased charges now made on beer brewed for sale. The provisions of the existing law are of long standing, and, however appropriate they may have been to a time when the Beer Duty was 6s. 8d. a barrel, they are not 204 suitable when the duty is raised to 70s. a barrel and when brewers for sale are still restricted as regards output and gravity. I thought, first of all, that it might be possible, in view of the new high rates, to prohibit domestic brewing altogether, but, in deference to an old-established custom in certain agricultural districts, I refrained from taking that course, though I could not view with equanimity or patience a large increase of private brewing in consequence of the increased duty imposed upon the brewers for sale. In the case of private brewers who now pay Beer Duty, no change is necessary, and they will remain, as at present, liable to Beer Duty, subject to the nominal Registration Duty of 4s. In the case of persons who do not pay Beer Duty, I do not propose to impose the Beer Duty as such, but to make them pay their contribution to the Exchequer by way of a Licence Duty. The revenue effect of these changes is negligible, except as some measure of protection against loss of revenue from other sources, but I think it is necessary for that purpose and for fairness.