HUGE FIGURES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 247, 6 July 1918, Page 8

HUGE FIGURES

9 BRITAIN'S WAR TAXATION REVENUE OF £900,000,000 (From Melbourne "Age" Correspondent.) London, April ill. For tho financial year before the outbreak of war the revenue of the United Kingdom was ,£198,000,000, out of which ■£163,000,000 was derived from taxes. For the financial vear which closed on .March 31, 1918, tho revenue ,£707,000,000, of which .£613,000,000 came from taxes. Tho SO per cent, tax on excess profits yielded .£220,000,000, which is over ,£20,000,000 more than the total revenue of the United Kingdom before the war. Tho estimate of the excess profits tax for the current financial year is ,£300,000,000. Last vear income tax and the super tax on large incomes yielded ; this source of revenue is estimated to yield ,£290,000,000 during the current financial year. The Chancellor of tho Exchequer, in his Budget spepch on April 22, proposed additional taxation estimated to yield ,£114,000.000. The total estimated revenue for the current financial year is ,£842,000,000. This estimate excludes revenue from tho proposed tax of 2d. in the shilling on luxuries. A Select Committee of the House of Commons is to report on this tax and tn draw up a list of articles on which it will be imposed. No accurate estimate of the revenue from thin tax can be .formed at present, but il is exulted tn yield about .£50,000,00(1 The total revenue for the current vear, therefore, will be about JW0.000.000. The following are the estimated receipts from the chief sources of revenue:— „.„. Millions. Customs M 'Excise ;■'' Estate and duties M Stamps I T'iromp tax and super tax ... v!! 0 ■Cxc-oss profits duty *™ foetal cervices 2 s Telesmiih A Wnnhon" services 10 In proposing additional taxation to the extent of •£114,000,000 (exclusive of the tax on luxuries), ll;9 Chancellor of the Exchequer has been guided by the principle that, assuming the war ended wuh the end of the financial year, sufficient revenue should be derived to pay for tho country's expenditure on a peace footing, together with the increased charge for interest in the national debt, which has increased enormously as the result of war loans. In this connection he has to make, allowance for a heavy reduction in the national revenue when peace is established. For instance, tho excess profits tax, which is estimated to yield .£300.000,000 this .year, is a war measure, and though it will not be abolished immediately ihe war ends, it will not last long. Before the war began the peace expenditure of the country was X173,000,f1f10, but, assuming that the war were to end by Jlarcb, 191?. which is the end of the current financial-year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer estimates that the peace expenditure would be .£650,000,000, inclusive of .£50,000,000 for pensions and for interest and sinking fund on the national debt. The additional taxation imposed sinco the war began has yielded a total of ,£1.014.000,000 up to the end of March, 1 !)18. During the current financial year j these war taxes are expected to yield | .£642,000.000. Up to the end of March ! last 26.3 per cent, of the war expenditure was paid out of revenue. This year the proportion paid out of revenue will be 28.3. Before the war the income tax ranged from 9d. to Is.- 2d. in the pound, and the super tax (charged on incomes over ,£500) t.w 6d. in the naund. Under tho latest budget proposals the income tax ranges from 2s. 3d. to 6?. in (he pound, and the super tax on incomes over .82500) is is. fid', in 'the pound. The , following table shows the amount of income tax payable on incomes up to *' Where Where Income Tnoumo Wholly Wholly Earned. Unearned. ■Amountof Airionntof Income. • Tax. Tax. ■ S: , £. s. d. £. s. d. K\ 10 0 10 0 150 3 7 6 t 10 0 200 9 0 0 12 II 0 250 , 1.1 12 0 1!) 10 0' ano ....: 20 5 0 ?7 0 0 350 M 17 fi M 1(1 (I •100 31 10 0 .12 « 0 •SSO 3(1 7 P. 52 10 II 500 « 0 0 00 0 0 550 117 10 0 !••!• 7 0 600 75 0 0 93 15 0 650 87 0 fl IPS 1", 0 7<l!l 91 10 0 . lIS 2 0 800 120 0 0 150 0 (1 (100 1.",5 0 0 ISS 15 I) l.OilD 150 0 0 187 10 0 1.500 osi 5 n n:vr im n 2,09!) 450 0 0 525 I) 0 2,500 656 5 0 - 750 0 0 The following h'blc gives the amounts payable in income tax and super lax:--Income tax Income. and super t-.x. ,C ,C s. d. 2.750 8C" 15 0 3.000 962 10 0 4,009 1,:i62 in 0 5.009 1.787 10 0 6.090 2,237 10 '0 7,000 2,712 10 0 8.000 ! 3.187 10 II 9.090 3,687 10 0 1.0.000 4,187 10 0 11.090 4,712 10 0 12.000 5,237 10 0 13.000 5.702 10 0 MOM G.?S7 10 0 15.000 0,812 10 0 20.009 0,437 10 0 25,030 12,062 10 0 ,"4090 14,687 10 0 40,000 19,937 10 0 50,000 25,187 10 0 100,000 51.437 10 0 150,000 77,637 10 0 A&ording to the latest statistics avail- : able, there were 29.500 people who paid super tax in 19.(5-16, whpn the tax was imposed on incomes over JC3OOO. The incomes of nearly half this, number were between JjMOO and ,£SOOO. There were only 326 persons with incomes of over •£50,001), and only 79 with incomes of over .£IOO,OOO.