EVER-GROWING INCOMES.
Another test of our national prosperity is furnished by the income tax returns. When the annual value of the property and profits assessed for income tax exhibits a steady increase, it is hard to believe that our manufacturers, and all the classes that depend upon them for support, are being ruined by Germans or by anybody else. Here are the figures:—
Income Tax Assessments.
In Millions Sterling.
| Five Years’ Average. | Schedule D. | All Schedules. |
|---|---|---|
| 1870-74 | 210 | 490 |
| 1875-79 | 263 | 575 |
| 1880-84 | 268 | 601 |
| 1885-89 | 292 | 634 |
| 1890-94 | 350 | 699 |
The return from which the above figures are taken stops with the year 1894; but a somewhat similar comparison was brought up to date in the last Budget speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The following table is taken from the “explanatory memorandum” that accompanied that speech:—
Yield per Penny of the Income Tax.
| Year Ending March 31st. | Yield per Penny. | Ten Years’ Growth, after allowing for alterations in the incidence of the tax. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of Growth. | Percentage of Growth. | ||
| Thousand £ | Thousand £ | Per Cent. | |
| 1876 | 1,978 | — | — |
| 1886 | 1,980 | 62 | 3·23 |
| 1896 | 2,012 | 207 | 11·47 |
With such figures as these available it is difficult to understand how people can continue to pour forth nonsense about the ruin of our national industries. During the very decade in which the blight of German competition was supposed to have destroyed the profits of our manufacturers, it is clear from the above infallible test that the incomes of our commercial, professional, and property-owning classes have been growing with increasing rapidity.