MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1918, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

BRITISH BUDGET, SOME COLOSSAL FIGURES. i 07 MILLIONS NEW TAXATION. TAX ON LUXURIES. London, April 22. In the House of Commons, Mr. Bonar Law stated that the Home Utile Bill would be introduced immediately, but he could not give a date. In introducing the Budget he made a (preliminary statement showing how the revenue compared with tho estimate of 1917-18. The total receipts from taxes were. £013,040,000, an increase of £43.340,000. The chief increases were: Customs £511,000, excise £3,722,000, estate duties £2,074,000, income tax (including super tax) £15,509,000, excess profits duty £20,214,000, land duties £285,000, Receipts from other sources totalled £94,105,000, an increase of £25,295,000. The, total receipts from all sources were £707,235,000, an increase over the estimates of £08,635,000. The total expenditure provided for in the 1917-18 Budget was £2,290,381,000, and the supplementary estimates amounted to £477,250,000. The Budget was delivered to a full House. It provides for 87 millions of new taxation. The excess profits duty remains unchanged, and income tax on incomes under £SOO is unchanged. Over that it is fixed at Gs. with a super-tax of 4s 6d, beginning with iueomes of £2500. Farmers are to pay income tax, or twice their rent, otherwise they must render accounts. The tobacco duty is fixed at 0s 2d per pound; tho duty on spirits at 30s; on boer 50s per barrel; the sugar duty is increased by lis Bd. (Postcard postage is fixed at id, and letter rates to India and the Dominions at lAd. A fax is levied upon luxuries. REMARKABLE FIGURES. LARGEST EVER KNOWN IN ANY' COUNTRY. AMERICA'S VALUABLE AID. NEW TAXES PROVIDED. HUGE NATIONAL DEBT, Received April.23, 7.15 p.m. London, April 22. In tho House of Commons all the Nationalists were absent during tho Budget delivery. Mr. Bonar Law said tho figures exceeded anything ever known in any country. Tho United States advances ti the Allies amounted to £950,000.000, im eluding £500,0000,000 to Great Britain. The latter's advances to the Allies amounted to £505,000,000. . Taxation had been increased under every heading. A notable item of the revenue was the thirty million excess profits from controlled firms. Tobacco showed £170,000 over the estimate, the entertainment tax yielded £5,000,000, being half a, million over the estimate. The income, tax and super tax yielded £21,500,000 over th<? estimate. Tho total expenditure exceeded the Budget estimate by £400,000,000, whereof £153,000,000 represented the Army estimates and £139,000,000 represented foodstuffs and other commodities. The balance consisted of increased advances to the Allies. We had leaned to a great extent upon the United States, as our other Allies had leaned on us, but as far as the war was concerned we were selfsupporting. We must make allowance for the. possibility after the war of not receiving the interest due from the Allies. Therefore, he proposed to take half the Allies' debt, namely, £810,000,000, and deduct this from the national debt, and also deduct the Dominions' debt of £244,000,000 and India's obligation of £04,000,000, totalling £1,154,000,000, making the national debt for which we wero liable £7,850,000,000. The interest thereupon, at 5J per cent-, will amount to £380,000,000, which will be added to normal expenditure and mado £(>50,000.000 to be raised from revenue. For the deficit now, of £110,000,000 lip. proposed new taxes amounting to £114,000,000. Onr actual expenditure was now £2,403,000,000, at the rate of £6,95G,000 daily, compared with ££,583,000 daily in WIG. The money raised for war expenditure to the end of 1910 was £1,044,000,000, and to tho end of 1917 we had raised £1,086,000,000. These figures proved tho country's financial strength after nearly four years' War. The result was much greater than could bo anticipated and formed an amazing testimony to the country's financial spirit. Tho estimated credit votes amounted to £2,550,000,035, tho estimated advances to Allies £ 300,000,000, and the estimated total estimated expenditure £2,tfr2JOO,OOO. Tlia national debt at the end of 1918 would bo £7,080,000,000. Mr. Bonar Law said he did not regard the Russian debt as bad. Sooner or later Russia would again have an ordered Government. The excess profits duty was expected to yield £300,000,000. Britain's duty was to levy as much taxation and bear as much war expenses as possible without weakening the conduct of the war, but taxation must not be on such a scale as to oripple industry. The Government did not propose to increase tilt excess profits duty, PRICE OF WHISKY. Received April 23, 7.15 p.m. London, April 22. The (Press Bureau states that the Food 1 Controller has fixed the maximum prices i for whisky, 30 per cent, under proof, at j 8a 6d and 9s 6d per bottle, according to | quality, with a proportional reduction fot lower strengths.