THE WAR

Evening Star, Issue 15915, 22 September 1915, Page 4

THE WAR

WAR FINANCE,

MR M'kENNA'S BUDGET. DAJLY EXPENDITURE 4£ MILLIONS, AND STILL RISING. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, September 21. (Received September 22, at 11 a.m.) I" the House of Commons the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr R. M'Kenna) asked members to assent to the great and unprecedented burdens caused by the war. He estimated the year's revenue, based on existing conditions, at £272,000,000. The expenditure was estimated at £1,590,000,000. He wrts sure the country would courageously and confidently face the outlay. Every section of the community must contribute, and must make great sacrifices. He estimated that at the end of this year the dead weight of debt would be £2,200,000,000. But this would in nowise cripple our resources. We had a navy costing £190,000,000 and an army costing £715.000,000. Our external advances also amounted to £423,000,000. Tlie. duily rate of expenditure on all services from now to the end of the financial year would be upwards of 4£ i millions, possibly rising towards the close j of the financial vear to upwards of ■ £5,000,000. * ] The expenditure for the current year included £36,000.000 on pre- and port-moratorium Bills, ' and £170,000,000 j on our ordinary national- services, ex- i eluding the army add navy. There was j no record of any liation voluntarily ac- j cepting liabilities bearing so high a pro- i portion to total income—liabilities for ! which provision must be made within j . single year. j STIFF TAXATION. j In regard to new taxation, both the ! strict Freetrader and the scientific Tariff ; Reformer must temporarily put their fiscal j theories aside aud look at the condition ; of the foreign exchanges. Britain must j discourage imports, and must also have j strict regard to the necessity for a re- ] duction in domestic consumption. I Besides an increase in the Income Tax, j there must be improved machinery for collecting it, and efforts must be made j for assisting employers, together with special relief for incomes reduced on | account of the war. (Received September 22, at 11.20 a.m.) As to the Income Tax, there would be a 40 per cent, increase far the full year, making a, 20 per cent, increase for the remaining six months. The exemption limit would be reduced to, say, £l3O per annum and an .abatement to*£l2o. This tax would be payable half-yearly. These proj posed changes in the Income Tax would I yield an increased revenue of £11.974.000, | realising in the full year £44,400,000. | BIG INCOMES TAXED. | He proposed to tax war profits, and also to raise the supertax scale. A man without children earning 60s weekly would pay 18s lid quarterly: a man similarly circumstanced earning 80s weekly would pay 46s 2d quarterly. A man receiving ! £5.000 a year would*pay £1.029 sterling; ; and a man with an income, of £IO.OOO per annum would pay £2,529. The man receiving over £IO,OOO would pay 7s in the £. All incomes in excess of £IO,OOO would be taxed in proportion, and the man with an income of £IOO.OOO a year would have to pay £34,029. (Received September 22, at 11.30 a.m.) The revenue from the excess of war profits he estimateo! at £30,000,000. to be collected before March 51. The tof.il additional revenue for the full effective year under the Inland Revenue he estimated at £77,000.000. The proposed sugar duty would increase the price by Id per lb, and would yield £11,700,000 a year. There would be'so per cent, increase in the. duties on tea-, coffee, dried fruits, and tobacco. The additional tea duties would produce £4,500.000 a- year; tobacco, £500,000. He proposed a-'n increase of fhe duty on motor spirits of 3d per gallon, and patent medicine d'utv would be doubled, yielding £250.000. There, would be no alteration in the duty on beer or spirits. (Received September 22, at noon.) Dealing with imports which might properly be restricted by duties for reasons appertaining to foreign exchange conditions and in restriction of luxury, he proposed an ad valorem duty of m[ per cent, on motor ears, motor cycles, cinema films, clocks, watches, musical instruments, plate glass, and hats, yielding £1,150,000 a year. Changes in the post orlico and telegraph rates would vield an increased revenue of £4,975,000. The total additional revenue from Customs and Excise duties in the present- year would produce £25,000,000. The other new taxation would vield £10,215,000 a year. Tost Office Changes.—The Retrenchment Cohimittec had adopted a suggestion for the abolition of halfpenny postage and' a reduction in the weight of the letter to be carried for Id; also a higher scale 6f parcels post, inland telegraph, and Press telegraph rates, besides an increase in the poundage on postal orders and higher telephone charges. THE MONEYED INTERESTS COME TO HEAR"THEIR FATE. LONDON, September 21. (Received September 22, at 12.20 p.m.) On the introduction of the War Budget by Mr M'Kenna- the House of .Commons presented one of those rare sceiies which mark the biggest events in its history, lhe greatest Budget ever introduced drew 1 enormous crowds within and about the House. Parliament, square and the approaches of Westminster Palace Yard were filled with people anxious to see the. controllers of the country's destinies passing through to Westminster Hall. The lobbies and the central hall were blocked by people anxious to get admission to the Chamber or to secure" a first hint of the new burdens of taxation. Merchant* or their representatives al- { ways swell the crowd in Parliament on I Budget night. The changes in Customs | duties mean much to the masters of com- ! merce. and many are the expedients re- ' .-.orted to in order to escape from the j building with news of a fresh tax or of a j lowered duty. j Within the Chamber gangways and galleries were packed to suffocation. Many ! members before noon deposited their card's on their seats. Applicants for tickets to the Strangers' .Gallery thronged the precincts, but not a tithe of the" accommodation sought was available. Some 2,000 peers and diplomatists looked down from their respective galleries upon an animated scene. Black coats and white waisteuats were everywhere, dotted with bald heads, and there was a sprinkling of khaki uniforms. Well-dressed women were descried behind the grille of the Ladies' Gallery, but it might have been a harem, for not a face was distinguishable. The. front bench* was a. strange com- / pound of all sorts of politicians—Radicals' and Tories sitting side by side—Sir Alfred Morit-z Mond (of Brunner Mond) in close coalition with Sir Harry Verney (owner of about 5,000 acres in Bucks).