MR. DE VALERA’S CLAIM

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1933, Page 12

MR. DE VALERA’S CLAIM

A DELUSION EXPOSED That Mr. de Valera should have ended his negotiations with the British Government by reviving the delusion that England owes Ireland hundreds of millions of pounds is not surprising to those who have followed the story of this Irish dream, (wrote Harold Cox in the London ‘Sunday Times'.) The over-taxation of Ireland has been a popular cry with Irishmen for over forty years, and seems now to be regarded almost as an article of religious faith. Yet it has no foundation in fact. The delusion came into being in connection with the Home Rule movement in the nineties of last century. The prospective splitting-up of the United Kingdom made it necessary to come to some conclusions as to the financial relations between Ireland and Great Britain, and a. Royal Commission. was appointed in 1894 to inquire into the matter.

It is on the report of that Commission that the legend of the over-tax-ation of Ireland is based. The Commission, which contained a majority of Irish members and four English Home Rulers, sat for two years and then presented a. number of conflicting reports. It also presented. a kind of compromise report to which most of the members of the Commission put their signatures. The outstanding political feature of this majority report, was a comparison between the estimated taxable capacity of the Irtish pleople and the (total amount of taxation paid. The conslusion reached was that, relatively to the people of Great Britain, the Irish were then paying more than they ought to the extent of about two and three-quarter million pounds a year. This, figure was instantly seized upon with delight by the Irish agitators; it is the basis of Mr. de Valera’s claim.

THE WHISKY TAX Like other Irish agitators, he assumes that this two and three-quart-er million pounds was an annual burden on Ireland for the whole period of the existence of the United Kingdom. He multiplies it by the necessary number of years and probably throws in a good many million pounds for compound interest. But from the outset it ought to be obvious to everybody that, in dealing with the financial relationships of Ireland and Great Britain, account must be taken not only of what Ireland pays but also of what she receives. As a matter of fact, as long as the Union lasted, Ireland was constantly receiving out of the Imperial exchequer relatively much larger sums for purely local services than the rest of the kingdom. The over-payment of taxes that sue made in some years as compared with her estimated taxeable capacity was more than made good to her by these receipts, with the result that, treated as a separate financial unit, Ireland was not over-taxed; indeed, she was under-taxed. Nor was any individual Irishman subject to a higher scale of taxation than Englishmen in a corresponding position in life. On the contrary, several taxes which were operative in England were never extended to Ireland. It. -is true that for a brief period between 1850 and 1860 an increase in the whisky tax while the beer tax remained low created a plausible Irish grievance. But this was obviously a Scotch as well as an Irish grievance, and equally was it a grievance to Englishmen who preferred whisky to beer.

COST OF THE NAVY Apart from this minute and temporary grievance it is impossible to find any financial unfairness in the treatment of Ireland as a member of the United Kingdom. On the contrary, from the very beginning of the Union in 1801 large concessions were constantly made to Ireland by the Imperial Parliament to meet her special difficulties, so that she was distinctly better off than she would have been if -she had remained financially independant. It may be added that even before the Act of Union Ireland was obtaining very substantial advantages from her connection with Great Britain This fact was fully recognised by’some of the Irish themselves. Speaking in the Irish Parliament in 1783 a very famous Irishman, Grattan, said : —< L The navy of England protects our trade, and we, as an equivalent, pay £70,000 a year to maintain the troops destined to serve in the plantations. This is not a dear purchase for partaking that which has cost England so many millions. It would be interesting if we could hear what Grattan would say to-day. He evidently thought that £70,000 a year was too small a contribution from Ireland to the cost of the Navy; to-day the Irish Free State contributes nothing. Nor do the Finance Accounts of the United Kingdom contain any record of any contribution from the Irish Free State to the cost of the huge National Debt incurred by the Imperial Government while Ireland was a member of the United Kingdom, and was more than fully represented in the Imperial Parliament. Indeed some of the present debt for which Great Britain has annually to provide the interest was primarily an Irish responsibility, which the exchequer of the United Kingdom took over. The plain truth is that, during the whole period of the Union, Ireland was making a financial profit out of her connection with Great Britain. At. the same time the people of Ireland were growing in prosperity.