Revenue and Expenditure.—The early statistics as to revenue and expenditure in Ireland are very fragmentary and afford little possibility of comparison. During the first 15 years of Elizabeth’s reign the expenses of Ireland, chiefly on account of wars, amounted, according to Sir James Ware’s estimate, to over £490,000, while the revenue is put by some writers at £8000 per annum and by others at less. In the reign of James I. the customs increased from £50 to over £9000; but although he obtained from various sources about £10,000 a year and a considerable sum also accrued from the plantation of Ulster, the revenue is supposed to have fallen short of the expenditure by about £16,000 a year. During the reign of Charles I. the customs increased fourfold in value, but it was found necessary to raise £120,000 by yearly subsidies. According to the report of the committee appointed by Cromwell to investigate the financial condition of Ireland, the revenue in 1654 was £197,304 and the expenditure £630,814. At the Restoration the Irish parliament granted an hereditary revenue to the king, an excise for the maintenance of the army, a subsidy of tonnage and poundage for the navy, and a tax on hearths in lieu of feudal burdens. “Additional duties” were granted shortly after the Revolution. “Appropriate duties” were imposed at different periods; stamp duties were first granted in 1773, and the post office first became a source of revenue in 1783. In 1706 the hereditary revenue with additional duties produced over £394,000.
Returns of the ordinary revenue were first presented to the Irish parliament in 1730. From special returns to parliament the following table shows net income and expenditure over a series of years up to 1868:—
| Year. | Income. | Expenditure. |
| 1731 | £405,000 | £407,000 |
| 1741 | 441,000 | 441,000 |
| 1761 | 571,000 | 773,000 |
| 1781 | 739,000 | 1,015,000 |
| 1800 | 3,017,757 | 6,615,000 |
| 1834 | 3,814,000 | 3,439,800 |
| 1850 | 4,332,000 | 4,120,000 |
| 1860 | 7,851,000 | 6,331,000 |
| 1868 | 6,176,000 | 6,621,000 |
The amount of imperial revenue collected and expended in Ireland under various heads for the five years 1902-1906 appears in the following tables:—
Revenue.
| Year. | Customs. | Excise. | Estate, &c. Duties and Stamps. | Property and Income Tax. | Post Office. | Miscel- laneous. | Total Revenue. | Estimated True Revenue. |
| 1902 | £2,244,000 | £5,822,000 | £1,072,000 | £1,143,000 | £923,000 | £149,000 | £11,353,000 | £9,784,000 |
| 1903 | 2,717,000 | 6,011,000 | 922,000 | 1,244,000 | 960,000 | 148,500 | 12,002,500 | 10,205,000 |
| 1904 | 2,545,000 | 5,904,000 | 1,033,000 | 1,038,000 | 980,000 | 146,500 | 11,646,500 | 9,748,500 |
| 1905 | 2,575,000 | 5,584,000 | 1,016,000 | 1,013,000 | 1,002,000 | 150,500 | 11,340,500 | 9,753,500 |
| 1906 | 2,524,000 | 5,506,000 | 890,000 | 983,000 | 1,043,000 | 150,000 | 11,096,000 | 9,447,000 |
Expenditure.
| Year. | Consolidated Fund. | Voted. | Local Taxation Accounts. | Total Civil Charges. | Collection of Taxes. | Post Office. | Total Expended. | Estimated True Revenue. | |
| Local Taxation Revenue. | Exchequer Revenue. | ||||||||
| 1902 | £169,000 | £4,271,000 | £389,000 | £1,055,000 | £5,884,000 | £243,000 | £1,087,000 | £7,214,000 | £9,784,000 |
| 1903 | 168,500 | 4,357,500 | 383,000 | 1,058,000 | 5,967,000 | 246,000 | 1,140,000 | 7,353,000 | 10,205,000 |
| 1904 | 170,000 | 4,569,000 | 376,000 | 1,059,000 | 6,174,000 | 248,000 | 1,126,000 | 7,548,000 | 9,784,500 |
| 1905 | 166,000 | 4,547,000 | 374,000 | 1,059,000 | 6,146,000 | 249,000 | 1,172,000 | 7,567,000 | 9,753,500 |
| 1906 | 164,000 | 4,582,500 | 385,000 | 1,059,000 | 6,191,500 | 245,000 | 1,199,000 | 7,635,500 | 9,447,000 |
Subtracting in each year the total expenditure from the estimated true revenue it would appear from the foregoing table that Ireland contributed to imperial services in the years under consideration the following sums: £2,570,000, £2,852,000, £2,200,500, £2,186,500 and £1,811,500.
The financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland have long been a subject of controversy, and in 1894 a royal commission was appointed to consider them, which presented its report in 1896. The commissioners, though differing on several points, were practically agreed on the following five conclusions: (1) that Great Britain and Ireland must, for the purposes of a financial inquiry, be considered as separate entities; (2) that the Act of Union imposed upon Ireland a burden which, as events showed, she was unable to bear; (3) that the increase of taxation laid upon Ireland between 1853 and 1860 was not justified by the then existing circumstances; (4) that identity of rates of taxation did not necessarily involve equality of burden; (5) that, while the actual 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 commissioners as exceeding one-twentieth. This report furnished the material for much controversy, but little practical outcome; it was avowedly based on the consideration of Ireland as a separate country, and was therefore inconsistent with the principles of Unionism.