THE BUDGET.
The house having resolved itself into a committee of ways and means,—The chancellor of the exchequer proceeded to lay before it the financial statement for the ensuing year. He had to lay before the house two estimates—one, that up to the 5th of April next, and the other up to the 5th of April, 1851. He had estimated the income for this year at £52,262,000; but he was happy to say that it would probably amount to £52,874,000. He could not, however, take the estimate for next year so high, as, during the last quarter, the returns bad not been so good. He would, however, take them at £52,785,500. He had estimated the expenditure of last year at £50,853,622, but it amounted only to £50,553,651; and he calculated that next year there would be a surplus of two millions and a quarter. He had calculated last year on a surplus of only £104,000, whereas the increase amounted to £523,500. He did not, however, anticipate such favourable results from the customs this year as last, for there would be a probable loss on sugar of between four and five hundred thousand pounds; on brandy, and likewise on corn, there would also be probably a loss. The right honourable gentleman then enumerated the various sources of revenue from which he anticipated revenue, as follows:—
Excise 14,045,000 Stamps 6,860,000 Assessed Taxes 4,320,000 Income Tax 5,410,000 Customs 20,000,000 Post-Office 820,000 Crown Lands 160,000 Miscellaneous 260,000 Old Stores 410,000 Making a total of £52,285,000.
With respect to the expenditure, The interest on the Funded Debt was 28,105,000 Other charges on the Consolidated Fund 2,620,000 Navy Estimates 6,613,000 Army Estimates 6,120,006 Ordnance 2,434,417 The Militia 110,000 Commissariat 500,000 Miscellaneous 211,159
Excess of expenditure in former years 4,000,000
Making altogether an expenditure of £50,613,582.
To this should be added the expenses of the new houses of parliament, and for a building to hold the records of the house. Upon the whole, he calculated, after meeting their expenses, upon an available surplus of fifteen hundred thousand, in round numbers. The right hon. gentleman then adverted to the propositions which had been made to reduce the duties on windows, tea, timber, malt, soap, bricks, paper, advertisements, and attorneys’ certificates; and also the proposition of the hon. member for Buckingham, to place on the consolidated fund certain charges otherwise provided for hitherto, and said he would not assent to those propositions, for which no special case had been made out. When he remembered that, within the last few years, no less a sum than £148,000,000 had been laid out in railways, he could not help thinking that there was a strong symptom of a return to more prosperous times. He would now state his own views on the subject. He had thought that they should first direct their attention to a reduction of the debt, and he should state to the house the fact, that since 1831, we had borrowed no less than £35,000,000, while in the same twenty years we had only applied £8,000,000 towards its re-payment, leaving a balance of debt of no less than £27,000,000. If they were always to borrow when the revenue was deficient, and never to pay when they had an excess, he could not see how they were to get out of debt at all. Neither could he see how they would get rid of the income-tax if they were to apply every surplus to the reduction of taxation instead of to the reduction of the debt. He felt it desirable, however, that some relief should lie given in the way of taxation; and the first class to which lie should apply the principle would be the small holders of land, by reducing the stamp duty on the sales of land up to £1000, and rendering it more equitable on transfers above that amount. Also a reduction of the duty on mortgages and bonds, and to reduce the stamp duty on leases from one to half per cent. He also thought it desirable that the habitations of the labouring classes should be improved, and he should therefore propose the total repeal of the duty on bricks. He estimated the loss to the revenue at £300,000 on stamps, and at £455,000 on bricks; making a total of £755,000, which was about one-half of the surplus available. He thought, therefore, that he was making a fair distribution of the surplus, one half to the reduction of taxation, and one half to the reduction of the debt. He proposed to make advances for the purpose of drainage and land improvement as an inducement to an expenditure of capital, which could not fail to be considered a national as well as an individual benefit. The last sum granted in this was for England and Scotland, £2,000,000; and of this, owing to priority of application, the gentlemen north of the Tweed had got no less than £1,600,000. He proposed to advance another £2,000,000, and to take care to reserve a fair share of it for England. He also proposed to advance for similar purposes £1,000,000 to Ireland, £800,000 of which should be for arterial drainage. He hoped to be able to make these advances without any addition whatever to the public debt. These were the proposals he had to submit to the house. He also proposed to apply £25,000 in order to got rid of the perpetual annuities. He hoped to be able to make these advances without making any addition whatever to the funded debt, if the house would leave him a surplus to do so. He proposed, by the payment of a sum of £250,000 out of the surplus in hand, to extinguish the equivalent fund, which was a charge on the public funds of £10,000 a year, since the junction of the debt of Scotland with that of England at the time of the Union. That would leave him £500,000; and that he thought the house should leave him as a reserve fund. The right lion, gentleman concluded by moving a vote of £9,200,000, to be raised by exchequer bills, for the service of the year.
After some discussion, in which Mr. Hume, Mr. Newdegate, Lord John Manners, and several other members took part, the motion was agreed to.