Of the Sewers Rate.

Having shown the expenditure of the Commission of Sewers, we now come to consider its income.

The funds available for the sewerage and drainage of the several towns throughout the kingdom, are raised by means of a particular property tax, termed the Sewers Rate. This forms part of what are designated the Local Taxes of England and Wales.

Local taxes are of two classes:—

I. Rates raised upon property in defined districts, as parishes, jurisdictions, counties, &c.

II. Tolls, dues, and fees charged for particular services on particular occasions, as turnpike tolls, harbour dues, &c., &c.

The rates or sums raised upon the property lying within a certain circumscribed locality, admit of being subdivided into two orders—

1. The rates of independent districts, or those which, being required for a particular district (as the parish or some equivalent territorial limit), are not only levied within the bounds of that district, but expended for the purposes of it alone; as is the case with the poor rate.

2. The rates of aggregate districts, or those which, though required to be expended for the purposes of a given district (such as the county), are raised in detail in the several inferior districts (such as the various parishes) which compose the larger one, and which contribute the sums thus levied to one common fund; such is the case with the county rate.

But the rates of independent districts may be further distinguished into two orders, viz.—

i. Those which are levied on the same classes of persons, the same kinds of property, and the same principles of valuation as the poor rate; such are the highway rate, the lighting and watching, and the militia rate among the independent rates; and the police, borough, and county rates among the aggregate rates.

ii. Those which are not levied on the same basis as the poor rate. The church and sewers rates are familiar instances of this peculiarity.

The sewers rate, then, is a local tax required for an independent rather than an aggregate district, and is not levied upon the basis of the poor law.

The assessment of the poor rate, for instance, includes tithes of every kind, that of the sewers rate extends to such tithes only as are in the hands of laymen. Again, the sewers rate embraces some incorporeal hereditaments to which the poor rate does not extend; but stock in trade, which of late years has been specially exempted from the poor rate, was never subject to the sewers rate.

A sewers rate, however, was known as early as the sixth year of Henry VI. (1427), though “commissions” were not instituted till the time of Henry VIII. The Act which now regulates the collection of the funds required for the cleansing, building, repairs, and improvements of the sewers, is 4 and 5 Vict. (1841). This statute gives the “Courts” or “Commissions” of Sewers, power “to tax in the gross” in each parish, &c., all lands, &c., within the jurisdiction of such courts, for the requirements of the public sewerage. This impost is not periodically levied, nor at any stated or even regularly recurring term, but “as occasion requires:” perhaps once in two or three years. It is (with some exceptions, which require no notice) what is commonly called “a landlord’s tax” in the metropolis, that is, the sewers-rate collector must be paid by the occupier of the premises, who, on the production of the collector’s receipt, can deduct the amount from his rent. If this arrangement were meant to convey a notion to the public that the sewers tax was a tax on property—on the capitalist who owns, and not on the tenant who merely occupies—it is a shallow device, for every one must know that the more sewers rate a tenant pays for his landlord, the more rent he must pay to him.

The sewers rate is levied according to the rateable value put upon property by the surveyors and assessors appointed by the Commissioners, who may make the rate “by such ways and means, and in such manner and form, as to them may seem most convenient.” It seems a question yet to be determined whether or not there is a right of appeal against the sewers rate, but the general opinion is that there is no appeal. The rate can be mortgaged by the Commissioners if an advance of money is considered desirable. The maximum of 1s. in the pound on the net annual value of the property was fixed by the Act. The Commissioners have also the power to levy a “special rate” on any district not connected with the general system of sewerage, but which it has been resolved should be so connected; also an “improvement rate,” at a maximum of 10 per cent. on the rack rent, “in respect of works they may judge to be of private benefit,” a provision which has called forth some comments.

The metropolitan sewers rate is now collected in nine districts.

There are at present 42 Commissions or Courts of Sewers throughout England and Wales.

The only return which has yet been prepared of the annual amount assessed and collected under the authority of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, is one presented to the House of Commons in 1843. It includes the sum assessed in four of the eight districts within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Commissioners from 1831 to 1840 inclusive.

Districts.Total in the 10 years. Annual Average.
£ £
Westminster 235,397 23,5397⁄10
Holborn and Finsbury 123,317 12,3317⁄10
Tower Hamlets 82,468 8,2468⁄10
From East Moulsey, in Surrey, to Ravensbourne, in Kent 175,137 17,5137⁄10
616,319 61,6319⁄10

The following amounts were returned to Parliament as that expended in two other of the metropolitan districts in the year 1833:—

In the City£17,7182⁄10
Poplar district2,7469⁄10
£20,4651⁄10
Annual average of the four above-mentioned districts61,6319⁄10
Yearly total£82,097

The two districts excluded from the above total are the minor ones of St. Katherine and Greenwich, so that altogether the gross sum levied within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Commissioners must have been between 85,000l. and 90,000l.

The annual amount of the local rates in England and Wales is, according to a work on the subject (“The Local Taxes of the United Kingdom”), published “under the direction of the Poor Law Commissioners” in 1846, 8,801,838l.[68] In this large sum only the average annual outlay on the six districts of the sewers of the metropolis is included (82,097l.), and it is stated that not even an approximate average could be arrived at as regards the expenditure on sewers in the country districts. Such absence of statistical knowledge,—and it is a want continually observable—is little creditable to the legislative, executive, and administrative powers of the State.

I shall now proceed to show, from the best data at my command, the present outlay on the metropolitan sewers.

According to the present law, the Commissioners are required to submit to Parliament yearly returns of the money collected on account of, and expended in, the sewerage of the metropolis.

I need only state, that in the latest and, indeed, the sole returns upon the subject, the rates in 1845-6-7, under the former separate commissions, were 1d. and 2d. in the pound on land, and from 3d. (Ranelagh and Westminster) to 1s. 10d. (Greenwich) on houses.

The rates made under the combined and consolidated Commissions, from 30th Nov., 1847, to 8th Oct., 1849, were all 6d., excepting the Western division of Westminster sewers, which were 3d., and a part of the Surrey and Kent district, 8d.

The rates under the present Metropolitan Commission, from 8th October, 1849, to 31st July, 1851, are all 6d., with a similar exception in Surrey and Kent. The following are the only further returns bearing immediately on the subject:—

RETURN OF THE PERCENTAGE ON THE TOTAL RATEABLE ANNUAL VALUE OF THE PROPERTY ASSESSED, to which the Rates collected under the separate Commissions, between January, 1845, and November, 1847, amounted; Similar Return as to the combined and consolidated Commissions, from November, 1847, to October, 1849; and as to the present Commission, from October, 1849, to July 31, 1851.

Total Rateable Annual Value of the Districts on November 30, 1847, and October 8, 1849, and July 31, 1851, respectively.Average Amount collected for One Year.Amount of the Percentage of the Rates collected on the Rateable Annual Value.
£s.d.£s.d.£s.d.
Under the old separate Commissions of Sewers, between January, 1845, and November 30, 18476,683,8960081,738 110145 or 2¾d. ·72 in the pound per annum.
Under the combined and consolidated Commissions, from November 30, 1847, to October 8, 1849 (including first Metropolitan Commission)7,128,1110067,7071630 18 11¾ or 2¼d. ·11 in the pound per annum.
Under the present Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, from October 8, 1849, to July 21, 18518,135,090[69] 0089,341 16011 11 or 2½d. ·52 in the pound per annum.
8,820,325[70] 00103 or 2¼d. ·72 in the pound per annum.

August, 1851.

THOMAS COGGIN,
Clerk of Rates and Collections.

return of the present annual amount of the local rates in England and Wales.

I. RATES.

A. Rates of Independent Districts.
1. On the basis of the poor rate.
The poor rate, including the purposes of—
The workhouse building rate
The survey and valuation rate
Relief of the poor£4,976,093
Other objects567,567
Contributions to county and borough rates (see below).
Jail fees rateunknown
Constables rate
Highway rates1,312,812
Lighting and watching rateunknown
Militia ratenot needed
2. Not on the basis of the poor rate.
Church rates506,812
Sewers rate—
General sewers tax—
In the metropolis82,097
In the rest of the countryunknown
Drainage and inclosure ratesunknown
Inclosure rate
Regulated pasture rate
B. Rates of Aggregate Districts.
County ratesContributed from the poor rate.1,356,457
Hundred rate
Borough rates
Total rates of England and Wales£8,801,834

The amount of the taxation in the shape of tolls, dues, and fees is as follows:—

II. TOLLS, DUES, AND FEES.

Turnpike tolls£1,348,085
Borough tolls and dues£172,911
City of London205,100
378,011
Light dues257,776
Port dues554,645
Church dues and feesunknown
Marriage fees
Registration fees
Justiciary fees—
Clerks of the Peace£11,057
Justices’ clerks57,668
68,725
Total tolls, dues, and fees of England and Wales£2,607,241

The subjoined, then adds the same work, founded on the preceding details, may be regarded as exhibiting an approximate estimate of the present amount of the local taxes in England and Wales, being, however, obviously below the actual total.

Rates£8,801,838
Tolls, dues, and fees2,607,241
£11,409,079

“The annual amount of the local taxation of England and Wales may at the present time be stated, in round numbers, at not less than £12,000,000;” or we may say that the local taxation of the country is one-fourth of the amount of the general taxation.

RETURN OF THE COST OF MANAGEMENT PER ANNUM ON THE TOTAL RATEABLE ANNUAL VALUE OF THE DISTRICTS.

YEARS.Total Rateable Annual Value of the Districts.Cost of Management per Annum.Rate per Cent.
per Annum of Cost of Management
on the Rateable Annual Value
of the Districts.
£s. d.£s. d.£s. d.
18456,320,3310018,5914305 10½
18466,423,9090018,09751057½
18476,683,8960024,371 169073½
18486,783,1110020,0087 1005 10¾
18498,077,5910020,0057604 11¼
18508,791,9670023,465 187054

August 7, 1851.

G. S. HATTON,
Accountant.