§ 2. Inland Revenue.
§ The total receipt of Inland Revenue was £430,967,000, as against a Budget estimate of £436,750,000, giving a deficit of £5,783,000. This deficit can be more than accounted for by a heavy fall in the receipt of stamp duties, which yielded only £20,650,000, as against a Budget estimate of £27,000,000. The fall in stamp duty revenue reflects principally the decline in Stock Exchange activities, the duties in connection with which yielded in 1930 about £4,000,000 less than in 1929 and about £9,000,000 less than in 1928.
§ The Income Tax receipt of £256,047,000, representing the Income Tax at the standard rate, and the Sur-tax receipt of £67,830,000, representing the Income Tax in excess of the standard rate, gave a combined receipt of £323,877,000, as against a combined estimate of £324,250,000, and the total receipt from income taxation thus fell little short of expectation. Taken separately, the Income Tax at standard rate was £3,703,000 short of the estimate and the 1393 Sur-tax yielded £3,330,000 more than the estimate. The fall in the Income Tax at standard rate was due to a slight fall in the rate of collection of tax in the quarter ended the 31st March, 1931. The surplus in the case of Sur-tax was due partly to a higher collection of arrears for past years and partly to a higher rate of collection of the tax payable on the 1st January, 1931, than was assumed in the Budget estimate.
§ The increase in the rates of Estate Duty effected by the Finance Act, 1930, did not yield quite as much as had been expected, and the total receipt from Death Duties, namely, £82,610,000, was £390,000 short of the Budget estimate.
§ The receipt of Excess Profits Duty and Corporations Profits Tax amounted to £3,000,000, giving a surplus of £1,300,000 over the Budget estimate. The yield from these repealed taxes represents the excess of collection of arrears over repayments for past years, and the amount of repayments required in 1930 proved to be less than was anticipated.
§ The yield of £830,000 for Land Tax and Mineral Rights Duty accords with the Budget Estimate and no comment is called for in respect of these duties, the yield of which is generally stable.
§ 3. Customs and Excise.
§ The Budget Estimate was £252,570,000. The actual revenue amounted, however, to only £245,401,000, showing a deficit of £7,169,000, of which £1,309,000 occurred under Customs and £5,860,000 under Excise. There were forestalments at the end of the year estimated to amount altogether to about £3,000,000, of which nearly two-thirds occurred in tobacco, nearly one-quarter in spirits, and small amounts in sugar, wine, and cocoa. But for this disturbance, the deficit on the Budget Estimate would have been approximately £10,000,000.
§ The shortage is attributed mainly to the trade depression, the full intensity of which was not foreseen when the Estimates were framed. Spirits, beer, and wine were all down, despite the gain to spirits and wine from forestalments. Sugar also failed to reach the Estimate by over £700,000, partly because consumption may have fallen, and partly because the heavy postponements which occurred in 1929–30 were not made good in 1930–31 1394 as expected. The receipts of duty on imported motor cars fell below Estimate by nearly £1,200,000. On the other hand, tobacco, oil, and entertainments showed surpluses, but in the case of tobacco this was entirely due to the forestalments mentioned above, actual consumption having expanded less than anticipated.
§ 4. Other Heads.
§ Ordinary Revenue, other than Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, amounted to £99,527,000 against an Estimate of £99,875,000. The yield under the different heads was in each case very slightly below the Estimate.