§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will state, for each year since 1855 and for the whole period, the amount of tax revenue contributed by Great Britain and by Ireland respectively; the one-twenty-first part of the former, being the British estimate of Ireland's taxable capacity; the amount by which the taxes actually drawn from Ireland exceeded this; and the total excessive taxes of that period, of which the Treaty of Union and the findings of the Financial Relations Commission entitle Ireland to claim restitution?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHThe respective contributions of Great Britain and Ireland to the tax revenue for the years in respect of which calculations have been made are given in the Financial Relations Returns presented to Parliament. These calculations have been made for every financial year since 1889–90, and for the period between the Act of Union and 1889–90 for single years at decennial intervals. The making of calculations for the intermediate years of the earlier period would involve very great labour, and I am not in a position to furnish the figures asked for in the question. As regards the latter part of the question I may point out that the Financial Relations Commission did not commit itself to any precise estimate of the comparative taxable capacity of Ireland and Great. Britain, but their Report contains a statement that whilst the acual tax revenue of Ireland was about one-eleventh of that of Great Britain the relative taxable capacity of Ireland was very much smaller and was not estimated by any of the members of the Commission as exceeding one-twentieth (namely, one-twenty-first of the taxable capacity of the United Kingdom.)