Item i (1) is an estimate of the amount of capital employed in the miscellaneous trades and professions taxed under Schedule D of the Income Tax. I have assumed that one-half of the estimated profits were derived from capital, and this half I have capitalized at 10 years' purchase. The amount so arrived at—£2,220,000,000—may be regarded as a reasonable estimate, not as an accurate one. In 1908, it may be pointed out, the nominal "paid up" capital of registered joint-stock companies amounted to £2,123,000,000.
Under i (2) £100,000,000 is put down as a rough estimate of the capital employed by small traders whose incomes are less than £160 per annum. I think that £100,000,000 is a liberal estimate, but it should be noted, against this opinion, that in 1885 Sir Robert Giffen's estimate was £335,000,000. In either case the figure is sheer guesswork; there is no proper statistical material.
Items j to q need little comment. I point out, however, that the profits of mines, quarries and ironworks are capitalized at only 4 years' purchase by some authorities in view of their exhaustible character.
Item r relates to furniture, works of art and other movable property. I have estimated this to amount to one-sixth of the item "Houses" (d). It is right to point out, however, that this estimate is very much at variance with former ones. Sir Robert Giffen in 1885 took one-half of the value of "Houses," and Mulhall and other statisticians have commonly used this estimate. But is it reasonable? I think not. In the first place the item "Houses" covers a great number of business premises the contents of which are valuable but are already estimated for in item i. The item also covers the value of all the land connected with the premises. Deducting for land and for business premises, could we, even as to the balance, assert that the average private dwelling contains furniture and other effects worth 50 per cent. of the cost of the structures? Enquiry has shown me that such an estimate would be only warrantable in the case of rich houses. But rich houses, as we have seen, are comparatively few, and "comfortable" houses not many. Coming to the great bulk of the small dwelling houses of the United Kingdom the furniture and effects are so poor that their value, unfortunately, as compared even with that of the mean houses which shelter them, is small, and in many cases negligible.
In taking one-sixth instead of one-half of item d in arriving at item r therefore, I feel that I am making the most liberal possible estimate. To make the figure about £1,600,000,000, as we should do by taking the traditional one-half of the value of "Houses," would, I submit, be very wide of the mark.
The total value thus estimated of the property in the United Kingdom owned by individuals affords a striking contrast with that owned by the State. It amounts to £10,567,000,000.
We have now to consider the third category: "Property in places abroad owned by persons in the United Kingdom." The items speak for themselves and are capitalized at very reasonable rates. We get the remarkable fact that certain persons in this country own about £2,600,000,000 of property in places abroad.
The grand total of the whole estimate is £13,762,000,000—£300 per head of the population, or say £1,500 per family of five persons.
[16] There is also, of course, the value of the trained personnel of both army and navy, which could not be taken at less than £250 per soldier and £400 per sailor, but I confine this estimate to the value of "property" commonly so called.
[17] There are no commons in Ireland and Scotland.