THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; BY ROBERT HARRY INGLIS PALGRAVE, i 1 Member of the Council of the Statistical Society of London. The very best of all plans of finance is to spend little, and the best taxation of all is that which : least in amount. SAY. (UNIX }..j;. riY \ LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1871. REPRINTED FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE STATISTICAL SOCIETY FOR JUNE, 1871. $Jn / PREFACE. THE Local Administration of this country has been much discussed in recent years, and when Mr. Tayler offered the prize which was the immediate occasion of the following pages, I gladly undertook to investigate a complete field of inquiry, many parts of which had interested me before. While writing, I was entirely unacquainted with the exhaus- tive report on the subject, then being drawn up under the direction of the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen. My Essay was submitted to the Council of the Statistical Society on 31st January, 1871, and the award of the adjudicators was made on 20th March, while Mr. Goschen's report did not appear till 3rd April. Although thus I had not the advantage which the possession of Mr. Goschen's report would have been to me at the time, there appeared to be no reason why such additional information as space permitted, should not be obtained from that report and incorporated here. The quotations made from that report have all been carefully marked, and the fullest information on the subject, obtainable at the present time, is thus given. It is needful to add the words " at the " present time," for as yet complete details do not exist of all branches of Local Taxation throughout the United Kingdom. As a disposition has been manifested to endeavour to alter the basis on which some rates are levied, it is desirable to draw attention to the fact that the apparent inequality of Local Taxation lies, not so much in the method of raising the sums imposed, as in the manner in which those sums are expended. Local rates in England are all levied on the A2 IV PREFACE. occupier, but they are, in Towns especially, expended in great degree upon objects which ultimately benefit not the occupier but the owner ; while in the Kural districts, the owner is at least as much interested as the occupier in keep- ing down charges which affect the permanent value of his property. Again, of those charges which fairly belong to the occu- pier as such, many are for imperial, not merely local, matters. Local rates have been too much considered in this country as forming a convenient fund on which any charge might be imposed, which it was not desirable to defray from the imperial taxes. That the expenditure for the relief of the poor is best directed by local knowledge and experience is beyond doubt, but these Dualities can be but of small service in administering many other charges which are at present paid out of the rates. To settle an equitable division between local and imperial expenses is therefore eminently desirable, and should precede a division of the rates between owner and occupier. Together with these points the inci- dence of imperial taxation on the different classes of rate- payers must be thoroughly examined into, that fairness in the apportionment of this taxation may be obtained. It appeared to me that in carrying out this inquiry it was best to give, besides a short historical statement of the mode in which the existing system had grown up, a statistical account of the various rates levied. This method alone sup- plies the required information about a system of taxation which, though based on one uniform plan, falls with an apparent inequality of incidence on different places in the same country. Hence a vast amount of detail was needed, and a considerable number of tables had to be prepared. Of these tables the most important have been selected, and are published here. They may be considered as forming a chart PREFACE. indicating the pressure of local taxation throughout England, and not only afford the means of comparing the incidence of the main branches of local taxation between one place and another, but of observing what the effect would be if the local rates were levied on all descriptions of property instead of those at present included in the assessment. The effect of levying local taxation on the income and property tax assessments for each county, is shown in several tables ; the results to average individuals would probably be nearly identical with those at present prevail- ing, but with all the disadvantages which a high rate of income tax always brings. The burdensome character of the taxation of personal property in America may be also referred to here, as affording an example to be avoided. The numerous subjects branching out of the main ques- tion subjects which it was impossible either to disregard entirely, or to discuss fully account for the form in which the present work appears. A complete table of contents as well as an alphabetical index is given. Besides a general statement of the prin- cipal local taxes, the objeqts for which they are raised, and - the authorities by which they are levied and expended, the most prominent instances of the disadvantages of the present system of local administration are referred to. Those cases also in which the existing method of rating involves an apparent inequality, for instance, in the assess- ment of railways, canals, and gas companies, and, in some cases, of tithes, are mentioned. I feel that in endeavouring to investigate these great and difficult questions, I have hardly done so in a manner equal to the importance of the subject, but at least I have desired to fulfil my work in a complete way, and in a spirit of fairness. Throughout, the points involved have been yi PREFACE. treated from a Statistical, and not from a Political, point of view. It will be a satisfaction to me if my work con- tribute, in any degree, to the solution of difficulties now acknowledged to be pressing, and some of national impor- tance. It will be a further satisfaction if, concurrently with this, it should assist at all the progress of statistical inquiry, a method which, though scarcely receiving at the present time the attention it deserves, has this advantage, that, fairly followed out, it enables the inquirer into those subjects which admit of investigation by simple enumeration, to arrive by patient study, at the facts of each case. R. H. I. P. October, 1871. T1IK LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. CONTENTS: PAGE I. INTBODUCTION. Local Taxation 1 Economy Produced by Revision of the Poor Law (1834) Some of the Difficulties Experienced in Investigating Local Taxation 2 Quotation from M. De Parieu on this point The Omission of Local Dues and Local Dues from Recent Returns 3 Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1870 5 Names of some of the Witnesses Examined The Manner of Levying Local Taxation Local Taxation almost entirely Direct Taxation 6 Mr. Gladstone on Equality of Taxation Some of the Disadvantages of Direct Taxation 7 Some Reasons in Favour of the Present System 8 It. GENEEAL OUTLINE OP PBINCIPAL LOCAL TAXES. Principal Rates Levied Class I. Rates in Primary Dis- tricts, such as a Parish . 11 PAGE II. LOCAL TAXES Contd. Class II. Rates Levied in Ag- gregate Districts, such as a County 11 Objects for which Levied For Local Government and Social Administration 13 For Local Improvements Authorities by whom Rates are levied 14 Levied by one Authority and Expended by Another Levied and Expended by the same Authority Manner of Appointment of Au- thorities 15 Rates paid by Occupier in Eng- land generally English System of Poor Relief. 1G Economy of Local Administra- tion 17 Union Chargeability Act Metropolitan Poor Act 18 Measures intended to Lessen Expenditure English Poor Rates originally intended to be levied on Occu- piers of Land CONTENTS. PAGE II. LOCAL TAXES Contd. Progressive Increase of Value of " Eeal Property other than Land " in England 19 Consequent Change in Incidence of Taxation Poor Rates in Agricultural Dis- tricts That they Cheapen Labour 21 That Poor Rates may also Cheapen Labour in Districts other than Agricultural 22 Mr. Ricardo's Remarks on Poor Relief. Note to p. 137 Poor Rates concluded 23 Amounts raised for Poor Relief in England, 1868 Also for County, Borough, and Police Rates, Local Government Rates in England, 1868 Local Improvement Rates, Amount in England, 1868 24 III. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION. Vast Number of Officers Em- ployed 25 Officers Employed in 1843 Number of Rates Recently Sanc- tioned 26 Opinions of M. de Mohl and M. de Parieu on Want of Systematic Local Administration in Great Britain Different Systems of Local Autho- rities in the Same Place 27 Remedies Recommended in 1843-44 , IV. MACCLESPIELD AS AN EX- AMPLE OP LOCAL ADMINIS- TRATION. Examples of Different Local Autho- rities in the Same Place 28 Guardians of the Poor 29 Local Board of Health Town Council ... . PAGE IV. MACCLESFIELD Contd. All these Different Bodies of Local Authorities with Different Powers and Levying Different Rates .... 29 With Different Accounts And Different Collectors Rates Levied on Different Systems on the same Properties The "Borough" and the "Town- ship " not Conterminous Differences in Ratings resulting therefrom The Borough pays County Rate, but has no Share in the Adminis- tration , 30 Tolls for the River Weaver assist in Defraying Borough Charges, but the Borough has no Control over the Tolls Three Different Annual Elections of Local Officers in the Borough Every Election on a Different Register Also the Parliamentary Elections on a further Different Register V. EXISTING SYSTEM OP COL- LECTION. Number of Different Rates in Various Places 30 At Leeds At Liverpool and other places in Lancashire System Employed in Collection of Inland Revenue contrasted with Collection of Local Revenue .... 31 Poor Law Board Audits 34 Local Officers, Defective Super- vision of Existing System of Collection of Local Revenues, its Disadvan- VI. CONSOLIDATION OP LOCAL RATES AND LOCAL GOVERN- MENT. Advantages of Consolidation 35 One Local Rate Recommended . CONTKN CS. IX PAGE VI. LOCAL RATES Contd. That each Tenement should be Numbered for Purposes of Tax- ation 37 One Local Governing Body Recom- mended . 38 VII. SCOTLAND. Local Taxation Divided between Owner and Occupier 39 Poor Rate Divided between Owner and Occupier Aberdeen 40 Great Diversity of Rates County Rates Borough Rates ,. 41 Rates in Parishes Partly Rural, Partly Urban Old Machar, Example of Parish Rating Old Machar, Diversity of Governing Authorities 42 Aberdeen, Diversity of Local Au- thorities 43 Owners of Land Directly In- terested in Local Rates, their Share in Administration Advantages of this Poor Law Relief.... .. 44 VIII. IRELAND. System of Grand Jury Cess 44 Local System 45 Presentment Sessions Assessments 46 Estimated Local Taxation IX. SOME OTHEB POINTS IN LOCAL TAXATION. Objection to Present Mode of Assessment on Land Employed in Agriculture Considered 47 Local Taxation should not be Excessive.... .. 48 PAGE IX. LOCAL TAXATION Contd. Exemptions from Local Taxation.... 49 Their Abolition Recommended Some Property may be Over-rated on Present System 50 For example, Tithes, Railways, Gasworks, Water Companies Some Charges rather belong to General than to Local Govern- ment 54 Grants by Government in Aid of Local Taxation 55 Mr. Gladstone's Remarks thereon.. A Revision of Certain Charges Re- commended Police, many Separate Forces Un- desirable Colonel Eraser's Opinion thereon.... Advantage of a Uniform System in Dealing, for instance, with Vagrants and Tramps 56 Police. Remarks of Poor Law Board respecting Vagrants and Tramps 57 Gaols. Uniform Administration Recommended Lunatics Militia Expenses 58 Registration X. OTHER SOURCES or REVENUE THAN RATES. Markets 58 Remarks on the Octroi System, by M. Horn 59 Tramways Sewage Farms Gasworks at Manchester belonging to Corporation 60 Price of Gas at Manchester At Sheffield , Tendency of Municipalities to Pur- chase Gasworks, Waterworks, and similar undertakings Waterworks at Manchester belong- ing to Corporation 61 Liverpool Corporation Waterworks 62 CONTENTS. PAGE X. SOTJKCES OF REVENUE Contd. Bradford Waterworks 62 Dewsbury Batley and Heckmondwike Water- works Yarmouth Waterworks Comparison of Charges to Con- sumers Advantages of Waterworks not being Trading Concerns 63 Dr. Simon on Danger of Bad System of Water Supply Waterworks and Gasworks, General Considerations.... .. 64 XI. INCIDENCE OP LOCAL TAXATION. The Metropolis 64 Share borne by Owner and Occupier 66 Incidence of Rates for Local Im- provement Example of Water Rate Divided at Liverpool 68 A Division between Owner and Occupier Recommended Rural and Urban Rates 69 Tables made to Investigate the Subject and Trace the Incidence Tables showing Rates Divided under Heads of Poor's Rate, Local Government, Local Im- provement 70 Tables showing Details of Rating.... 71 Tables Dividing Rates under Heads, Poor Rates, Local Government Rates, Improvement Rates for English Towns Represented .... Tables Comparing Local Taxation with Income and Property Tax 76 Tables showing that Taxes Raised by Rating are as Equable as by Income Tax Assessment On the Proposal to Tax Income for Local Purposes PAGE XI. LOCAL TAXATION Contd. Objections to a High Income Tax 77 Failure of an Attempt to Tax Stock - in-Trade in England 78 Reasons why such Attempt Failed 79 XII. CONCLUDING REMAEE:S .... 79 APPENDIX. I. Properties made Expressly Liable to Poor's Rate by the Statute of Elizabeth 82 II. The Inconvenience of Le- gislating on the Poor's Rate, without taking all other Local Rates into consideration 83 III. Comparative Taxation in the United Kingdom and in New York State 85 IV. Mr. J. R. McCulloch on Economic Advantages of System of Local Govern- ment in Scotland 87 V. Metropolitan Common Poor Fund. Expenses Charge- able thereto VI. Extracts from the Evidence before the Select Com- mittee of the House of Commons on Local Tax- ation, 1870 88 VII. Taxation in Holland 91 VIII. Report of Select Com- mittee of the House of Commons on Local Tax- ation, 1870 92 IX. Tables Illustrative of the Subject : A. Local Rates in England, 1868 94 B. Local Rates in England, 1868, Divided according to Dis- tricts 95 B contd. Poor's Rate as in Table above, and as Levied on an Income Tax Assessment .... 96 CONTENTS. \i PAGE Tables Illustrative Contd. C. Incidence of all Rates for Counties in England for 1868, after DeductingTowns Represented in Parliament (Cols. 1 and 2) ; the same on Aggregate for Towns Repre- sented (Cols. 3, 4, and 5) ; and also on the Counties, including Towns Repre- sented (Cols. 6, 7, and 8).... 97 C contd. Incidence of County, Hundred, Borough, Police, Highway, Church, Lighting, and Watching Rates (Col. 1), and of Improvement, General District, Commissioners of Sewers, Drainage and Em- bankment Rates (Col. 2), for Counties in England, 1868 . 98 D. Ratio of Poor's Rates (1868) to Population (1861), for Counties in England 99 E. Incidence of Property and Income Tax Levied on Rate- able Value for Counties named, 1863 F. Incidence of Poor's Rate on Assessment to Property and Income Tax for Counties named, 1868 100 G. Incidence of Property and Income Tax Levied on Rate- able Value for Counties named, after Deducting Towns Represented in Par- liament, 1863 101 H. Incidence of ALL Rates on Places Represented in Par- liament in England, 1868.... 102 I. Incidence of Poor's Rates on Places Represented in Par- liament in England, 1868.... 105 K. Incidence of County, Hundred, Borough and Police, and of Highway, District, Improve- ment, &c., Rates on Places represented in Parliament in England, 1868 108 L. Proportion per Head of Assess- ment under Schedule A to Population in the Counties of England named, for the Years 1803 and 1867-68 ... Ill PAGE Tables Illustrative Contd. M. Account Showing the Increase in Property Assessed on each occasion of New Assessment from 1853 to 1867. Schedule A, Great Britain 112 M contd. Annual Value of Various Descriptions of Real Pro- perty in England and Wales in Financial Year 1814-15, Compared with 1848 113 M contd. Amount and Ratio of Gross Assessment in 1864-65 of Lands and Other Real Property under Schedule A in England and Wales N. Amount of County Rate, &c., and of the Various Receipts in England and Wales, ac- cording to the Accounts of the County Treasurers for the Years 1856-67 114 O. Rates of Agricultural Wages in the Counties of England named, in the Quarter ending Michaelmas, 1860 115 P. The Highest Amount, and the Last Amount, Levied in Re- spect of Poor's Rate, County Rate, Highway Rate, Church Rate, the Present Valuation of Real Property in respect of which they are Imposed, and the Proportion of the Rates in the pound, 1811-42 116 Q. Local Taxation of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1858-59 117 R. Local Taxation, 1860 118 S. Showing Amount of Local Tax- ation Received by each Class of Local Authorities in Ire- land in 1869, with the Pro- portion of each to the whole 119 T. General Statement of Inland Revenue, Years ending 31st March, 1867-68 and 1868-69 U. Scotch Poor Law Board Ex- penditure, 1846-68 120 An ALPHABETICAL INDEX of the principal subjects will be found at p. 121. ' Tin- vi-i-v best of all plans of finance is to spend little, and t-ho best taxation of all is that which is least in niiiount." SAY. I. INTRODUCTION. JUDGED by this golden maxim the local taxation of England r;n\ hardly be called successful. It is certain that far from little is spent, and it is equally certain that a very large proportion of the taxes levied, is required for local purposes. The local administration of England is peculiarly open to both these objections. Scotland and Ireland both appear to be more fortunate in their systems of local government, and in the consequent economy to taxpayers in those parts of the United Kingdom. It is not only recently that the complaint of the heavy demands made by the local tax gatherer has arisen in this country. More than forty years ago the poor's rates in England and Wales reached so high an amount that a revision of the system under which they were administered was imperatively called for. The Poor Law Amendment Act was passed in 1834, and for the time a great economy ensued. The poor's rates in England fell, in the space from between 1834 and 1837, from 6,317,2557. (1834) to 4,044,741^. (1837). The number of paupers was reduced, and the general prosperity of the country greatly augmented. The complaint is now not so much as in 1834, of the poor's rate, though the poor's rate has, during the lasb few years, unfortunately increased not only in amount, but in proportion both to the value of property assessed, and to the population,* as of all local taxes col- lectively. These taxes are at the present so high that they amount to more than a third of the taxation imposed for the general purposes of the government those imposts which, for the sake of clearness, may be best termed imperial taxes while the expenditure, including the amounts raised by loans, is nearly the half of that of the central authorities.f * Vide " Poor Law Board Report, 1869-VO/' p. xvii : Rate per Head of Amount Rate in the Year. Expended in Poor Relief Year. of on the Estimated Population. Poor Relief. s. d. *. d. 1866 6 ii 1866 i 4'5 '69 7 -i '68 i 5'9 f As an illustration of the amount of similar taxation in other places, a com- parison between the taxes in New York State and Great Britain (1867) is given, Appendix III. B 2 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Mr. Goscheii's estimate is as follows : " Though my special intention has been to inquire into the local " taxation of England and Wales, I have collected as much infor- " mation as was accessible to me as regards Scotland and Ireland. " Statements IX and X, in Part I of Appendix A, show the aggregate " amount of local receipts and expenditure for Scotland and Ireland " respectively. They are as follows : Local expenditure in Scotland (partly estimated) 3,000,000 Ireland 3,050,000 If to these amounts we add the English expenditure of 30,240,000 We arrive at the total of 36,290,000 " as the aggregate local expenditure of the United Kingdom " " Eeport on Local Taxation, 1870," p. 6. It is scarcely possible to consider the local taxation of the country altogether apart from the taxes raised by the imperial government ; but, as it is the local taxation principally to which attention is now directed, reference to the imperial taxation of the country is only made when needed for purposes of illustration, or when the two branches of the subject are so closely interwoven that they have to be examined together. The returns recently made by order of the House of Commons contain the fullest and most reliable information yet obtained on local taxation. The difficulties attending a complete investigation of the subject are well illustrated by these returns, which fully support, even in their present comparatively complete state, the remarks in the accompanying quotation from M. de Parieu's admi- rable treatise on taxation : " Si en effet tout ce qui concerne les revenues nationaux tend " aujourd'hui, dans toute 1'Europe, a se divulger et a se produire " dans des budgets communiques au public, la taxation locale se " cache au contraire dans 1'ombre et il suffira, pour expliquer la " difficulte d'atteindre les faits qui s'y rattachent, de faire remarquer " quelle place restreinte tiennent dans nos documens officiels les " ressoarces, cependant si considerables et si variees, fournies en " France par 1'octroi, les centimes additionnels, les droits de voiries " et de places, etc., aux caises municipales." " A cause de cette subordination des taxes locales aux taxes " generales, les premieres semblent avoir souvent un caractere " d'imperfection speciale, qui resulte d'une culture d'esprit un peu " moins parfaite chez ceux qui les votent, et souvent de leur " anciennete, qui les destine a representer, pour ainsi dire, 1'archaisme " de la taxation." From " Traite des Impots," par M. Esquiroa de Parieu, vol. iv, pp. 4 and 5. 1HK LOCAL TAXATION OF CUKAT BRITAIN AND li:KI,AND. 3 The returns cited extend only to England and Wales, nor, when first issued, did they give exact information even for those portions of the United Kingdom. A memorandum in Return No. 497 I contains amendments in part of No. 497 ; No. 430 contains a further amendment still, nor can the latest of these papers, though carefully drawn up, be said to give all the information that might be desired with respect to local revenues. Those imposts which are raised by municipalities otherwise than by way of rates do not appear in these returns. Fair, market, bridge and ferry, harbour, and light dues are excluded, probably as being considered charges for services rendered. In those cases, however, in which a surplus revenue remains after defraying the charges incurred, these dues are distinctly taxes. Their omission is to be regretted, as thus the statement of local revenue and local expenditure is therefore to this extent incomplete.* The amounts raised in London in this manner are so large, that it is desirable to give some particulars of them. * A memorandum in Return No. 497 I, p. v, gives these items as below for the year 1867: Markets and fairs 26,282 Bridges and ferries 110,835 Harbours 1,259,990 Turnpike tolls 970,925 Pilotage and light dues 612,437 2,980,469 In Mr. Goschen's return, the sum under these heads, " principally for the year 1868, or for the year ending 31st March, 1869 " (pp. 58 60), are : Markets and fairs 64,198 Bridges and ferries 134,572 Harbours i, 94^,805 Turnpike trusts 1,023,563 Pilotage authorities 33 2 >%3 Light dues, &c 379>5 2 5 3,879,746 The amounts in Mr. Goschen's return include " sums borrowed," principally on account of harbour and turnpike authorities. The discrepancy between these two sets of figures is thus mainly, though by no means entirely, accounted for. Both returns are published by authority of the Government ; the difference between them serves to illustrate the difficulties experienced by the inquirer into these subjects. As these amounts are not distributed to their respective localities in the three Returns of Local Taxation (Nos. 497, 497 I, and 430), which have been mainly employed as the basis of this work, and it may be questioned how far the sums are paid by the inhabitants of the places where collected, these dues are only referied to in the general summary, p. 2 4 THE LOCAL TAXATION* OF <_Trtr^i BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Summary of the Accounts of the Corporation of London for 1868 and 1869. Tlie City's estate account Receipts. Expenditure. 1868. 1869. 1868. 1869. 399,857 79,466 242,449 100 129 563,053 220,737 35,180 35,552 56,607 4,904 3,583 195,854 2,780 2,351 5,246 427 7,948 2,065 21,519 18 279,858 17,406 193 9*,734 45,427 50,107 248,850 201,122 706,144 i5 6 >935 28,907 32,036 5> 1 83 4,906 3,i75 197,707 2,718 2,295 5,876 1,009 9,4 T 3 4>5 6 9 16,061 18 380,590 677 103,790 245,712 54,442 26,184 22,562 375,867 258,437 26,622 54.139 64,786 3,979 4,248 192,049 2,612 5,642 2,619 3,384 13 7,539 2,000 6,156 322,706 128,008 766 119,045 53,838 5 6 ,934 "7,529 143,588 92 705,158 157,787 34,901 28,572 66,247 5,c88 4,472 '94,559 2,221 5,268 2,357 3,028 23 8,952 4,634 5,853 Reserve fund Billingsgate Market tolls City's A.d coal dutv Bridge House estates Rebuilding Blackfriars Bridge.... Metropolitan Meat and Poultry "1 Market (site and approaches V and tolls account) J Ditto (western approach) Newgate Market fund Holborn Valley improvement .... Commissioners of Sewers, Xo. 1 2 3 Police fund Ward rates . Police superannuation Wine duty and gd. coal duty .... Drawback on coals Coal duties expenses fund Market fund Farringdon Street improvements West end of Cheapside im- \ provenient . J General fund of City of Lon- "1 don Court j Accumulated surplus profits "1 of Chamberlain's Office J Profits of Town clerk's establishment Total 1,879,825 2,156,649 1,844,049 2,171,626 In Liverpool also, to name only one of the most prominent instances, large sums are raised for the benefit of the municipality, which do not enter into these returns. Nor can any statement be considered complete which does not include those revenues which many municipal bodies receive from property belonging to their respective boroughs. In a complete investigation, these other points ought to be included. Information about them is for every reason very desirable.* * As an example, the borough of Beccles, in the county of Suffolk, with a population of 4,841 (Census 1871), possessed, in 1870, a net income arising from property of more than z,oool. per annum, from which the expenses of the roads and streets, the public lighting, police, and other similar charges, were defrayed, and a considerable surplus devoted to the public improvements of the borough. This instance is given as one of a class ; in illustration also of the general principle that where public interests, in places of small extent, are concerned, public revenues are generally best administered by those personally interested in keeping down local charges. M. IAX.U1UX 0] BBITAIH AM> , 5 A return also of the loans raised by the different local boards and authorities is. also greatly needed, together with a statement of the arrangements for a sinking fund (where such exists), and of the proportion of the debt still unredeemed at the date of making the return. The report of the evidence given before a select committee appointed by the House of Commons, 21st February, 1870, "To " inquire and report whether it is expedient that the charges now " locally imposed on the occupiers of rateable property should be " divided between the owners and occupiers, and what changes in " the constitution of the local bodies, now administering rates, " should follow such division," affords the most recent information obtainable, besides that contained in the returns named. This committee, presided over by Mr. Goschen as chairman, in the course of their inquiry examined many witnesses unusually well qualified to give evidence on the subject. Thus, Mr. Danby P. Fry, of the legal department of the Poor Law Board ; Mr. Tom Taylor, secretary of the Local Government Act office ; the late Sir John Thwaites, then chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works ; Dr. W. Neilson Hancock, the head of the Statistical Department in Ireland ; Mr. James Caird, C.B. ; Mr. C. S. Read, M.P. ; Mr. R. Dudley Baxter; Sir Sydney H. Waterlow; Mr. C. G. Gray; Mr. H. Arthur Hunt ; Mr. H. Christie Beloe ; and several others, were all examined. Evidence was given as to the effect of rates in town and country, in the metropolis, in large cities like Liverpool, in counties as differently circumstanced as Lancashire and Wiltshire. The report to which the committee agreed, illustrated so clearly the difficulties that exist in dealing with the subject, that it is given below in full.* Before considering it in detail, it will be desirable to refer to some of the main points involved. First among these stands the manner in which the required amounts are raised. The taxation for this purpose is, with exceptions so few that they may be disregarded in taking a broad view of the question, entirely direct. It is raised by rates, on one kind of property alone, though not on all that kind of property. This arrangement may be said to be universally employed in raising local taxation in Great Britain. The functions of the local administrator are thus limited, so far as raising a revenue is concerned, to one point, the making sure that the sum required will be obtained. The State, while entrusting to the local authorities the duty of raising a sufficient revenue, restricts the method in which the tax shall be levied to one particular head of property. All the advantages enjoyed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the State in the power of levying indirect taxation, are thus denied to the authority whom one may term the chancellor of the exchequer of the borough or county. The Chancellor of the * Vide Appendix, No. VIII. THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Exchequer of the State endeavours to adjust the taxes which he imposes, so as to meet the various capabilities of the subjects of the realm to bear individually their share of the burden. In the words of Mr. Gladstone in his budget speech, 18th April, 1853, "While " we have sought to do justice to the great labouring community of " England by further extending their relief from indirect taxation, " we have not been guided by any desire to set one class against " another; we have felt we should best maintain our own honour, " that we should best meet the views of Parliament, and best pro- " mote the interests of the country, by declining to draw any " invidious distinction between class and class, by adopting it to " ourselves as a sacred aim, to diffuse and distribute, burden if we " must, benefit if we may, with equal and impartial hand ; and we " have the consolation of believing that by proposals such as these " we contribute as far as in us lies, not only to developethe material " resources of the country, but to knit the hearts of the various " classes of this great nation yet more closely than heretofore to " that throne and to those institutions under which it is their hap- " piness to live." These advantages are denied to the local admi- nistrator. Equally so is the power of inducing an increase of revenue by a remission of taxation. How many times within our memory, and within the limits of modern financial legislation, has an in- creased revenue been obtained after a diminution in the percentage of the levy, the stimulus given to the permanent prosperity of the State more than compensating the temporary loss to the exchequer. This advantage is not possessed by the local authority. No diminu- tion in rating which he can suggest will suffice to enhance the prosperity of the taxpayer to such an extent as to produce any recuperative return. The only assistance which the local revenue can receive is from the natural increase in the local resources arising from the augmentation in the numbers and prosperity of the population. The increase in value of rateable property in this country has been very considerable. " The following table exhibits the progress in value of real " property from 1815 downwards, correcting the figure for 1815 as " regards rateable value in tbe manner indicated : Annual Value. Rateable Value. Proportion of Rateable Value to Income Tax Assessment. 1815 40,121,000 Per cnt. 75 '41-43 '47 85,802,000 (estimated) 62,540,000 67 320 000 (estimated) 72-89 '56 IOZ 22 f OOO 71 840 000 75 3 '68 . 100 612 000 70 25 HIE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IKl.l.ANK / " An examination of these figures will show the following "result: " The annual value of property assessed under Schedule (A), " has increased about 169 per cent, between 1815 and 1868 ; and in " the rateable value there has been an increase of about 150 per " cent. Since the year 1841 there has been an increase in the " annual value of about 68 per cent., and in the rateable value of " about 6 1 per cent. But, as the rates in the pound have for the " year 1815 been calculated, not on the 40,121,000?., which analogy " would show to have been the rateable value in 1813-15, but on " 51,898,000?., I shall have to deal mainly with the latter figure. " If this figure truly represented the rateable value in 1815, the " increase in rateable value would not have been 150 per cent., but " 94 per cent. If the former figure is correct, 23 per cent, would " have to be added to be recorded rates in the pound quoted in the " old returns for 1813-15. " The same figure, 51,898,000?., has been taken in the old re- " turns for the year 1826-27, by which time the value of property " must have much increased. " We know that the rateable value in 1841 was 62,540,000?. As " the year 1826-27 lies about halfway between 1814 and 1841, the " figure of 51,898,000?. appears to be a fairly correct amount for " the year 1826-27, being a middle term between our estimate of " 40,121,000?. for 1813-15, and the ascertained figure of 62,5 40,000?. " for 1841. " The general result is sufficiently distinct ; the rateable value of " real property has been increased from 40,000,000?. to 100,000,000?., " an increase of 150 per cent. (If the sum of 50,000,000?. be taken " as the rateable value for 1815, the increase has been 100 per " cent.) The annual value has been increased by a sum of about " 90,000,000?. sterling, or nearly 170 per cent. " Since 1841 the increase has been 38,000,000?. in rateable " value, and 58,000,000?. in annual value, showing respectively an " increase of 61 and 68 per cent." " Report on Local Taxation, " No. 470, 1870." Mr. Goschen. Table M, compiled from other sources, and drawn up inde- pendently from Mr. Goschen's, confirms this estimate. Other points for consideration also occur; for instance, the reasons which call for an increase in the rates reflect themselves likewise adversely in the condition of the ratepayer. Work is scarce, and the poor rates increase. The ratepayer has felt the evil as rapidly as the pauper, and is the less able to meet the enhanced outlay. Sanitary measures require higher local taxation. The rate- payer has suffered alike with the non-ratepayer, in purse if not in person. It should always be borne in mind that the same person generally contributes to both funds, to those raised by local, and ,THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. imperial taxation, and in different ratios ; that the local taxation, being direct, is an impost which the ratepayer can in no way avoid, as he may a portion of the imperial taxation, by abstaining from using the articles subject to it. There are some objections to this system of laying rates only on "visible" and "real" estate. Some of these disadvantages will be examined into further on. But it is probable that the existing system will be maintained. The taxes raised are so large that their very amount almost of itself precludes any reconstitution of the existing plan which would propose to raise these sums, or any large proportion of them, by any other method. " The argument for a tax, or mode of taxation, that it exists, is " always a very strong one, when the abolition would necessitate other " taxes to supply its place. The mere antiquity of the system by " giving time for the adjustment of the burden on the subject taxed " makes it fall lighter, very much lighter, than any novel tax or " method possibly could, and rates on real property, continuing 11 from generation to generation without material increase, are not " less but more likely than most taxes to show the effect of this 11 adjustment." The fact that local taxes have recently greatly increased, and that it is probable that they will shortly experience a considerable further increase,* renders an inquiry into the subject at the present time highly expedient. " Materials, more or less perfect, exist for instituting com- " parisons between the extent of local burdens at the following " dates: 1803, the average of 1813-15, 1817, 1826-27, 1841, 1862, " and 1868. But the fact that the same rates were at some dates " collected with the poor rate, and returned with them, and at other " times levied separately, causes considerable confusion, and some " uncertainty. " The receipts from rates, as far as they can be ascertained, " amounted (for England and Wales) In 1803 to 5,348,000 '13-15 to 8,164,000 '17 to 10,107,000 ,, '26-27 to 9,544,000 In 1841 to 8,101,000 '51 8,916,000 5 , '62 12,207,000 '68 ,, 16,800,000 (inclusive of church rates.) "1. The aggregate local expenditure of the United Kingdom is " upwards of 36,000,000^. " 2. The aggregate local expenditure of England and Wales, in * An estimate, framed by Sir S. H. Northcote (Table R), gives the local tax- ation of Great Britain and Ireland for 1860, as about 15,700,000?. An estimate in the " Statistical Abstract," No. 17, states the corresponding amount in 1870, as 25,000,000?. According to Mr. Goschen's report, the actual expenditure in 1868-69 was 36,290,000?., the amounts raised by rates being 16,200,000?. in England and Wales, 1,500,000?. in Scotland, and 2,280,000?. in Ireland. I UK LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IKI IAM>. " a given year (1868), was 30,240,0007. ; the receipts for the same " year being 3O,i4O,ooo/.* " 3. Of this sum 16,200,000 or 53'5 per cent, are raised by rates, being direct local taxation 4,350,000 ,, 14*2 ,, tolls, dues, fees, being indirect local taxation 1,325,000 4' 2 ,, ,, sales or rents of property 1,225,000 ,, 4*0 ,, Government subvention 5,500,000,, 19*0 varied by loans 1,540,000 5' i raised by miscellaneous receipts 3O,I40,OOO lOO'O " 4. Of the aggregate receipts of 30,140,000^. 13,000,000 or 43' i per cent, are spent in distinctly urban districts 5,030,000 ,, 1 6*8 ,, ,, rural districts 9,470,000,, 31*3 in districts partly rural partly urban 2,640,000 8'8 ,, by maritime authorities 30,140,000 loo'o " I now leave the subject of the total actual revenue and expen- " diture of local authorities in order to deal more especially with " ' the rates.' " Taking the same distribution of rates, as has been made of " the total local receipts between the various classes of authorities, " we have the following result : Purely Urban Authorities Municipal boroughs ... . . Rates. 914,000 410,000 1,685,000 1,036,000 175,000 417,000 482,000 5,119,000 3,178,000 7,926,000 Improvement Commissioners Local boards Vestries, &c. (metropolis) City of London Metropolitan Board of Works Metropolitan police Total Purely Rural Authorities County treasurers 5,1 19,000 1,501,000 1,378,000 80,000 43,000 176,000 Highway authorities Lighting and watching .. Commissioners of Sewers (extra-metropolitan) .... Drainage and embankment (extra-metropolitan) Total 3,178,000 Partly Urban partly Rural Authorities Boards of guardians 7,830,000 96,000 7,926,000 Burial boards Total . .. Total of rates levied by all authorities.... 16,223,000 -" Report on Local Taxation, 1870." * The difference must have been provided for by balances. 10 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. It must be borne in mind that an over oppressive taxation may become so onerous, as to be not merely without benefit to the revenue but conducive to its loss.* As there appears to be an impression in some quarters that local taxation has on some occasions reached so high a point, that land has occasionally been allowed to go out of cultivation in consequence of the inadequacy of the produce to meet the charges levied thereon, it is as well to mention that no distinct proof appears to exist that such has been the case. In the evidence taken by the agricultural committees in 1836, the leading questions were clearly intended to elicit answers which should tend to prove that cultiva- tion was undergoing diminution or deterioration, but it was only in isolated cases, and under peculiar circumstances, that cultivation could be shown to have either been deteriorated or diminished. Those peculiar circumstances seem to have applied chiefly to some parts of Buckinghamshire and Yorkshire. With reference to the latter, one of the witnesses, Mr. C. Howard, states that some of the poor strong soils of Howdenshire had gone out of cultivation, not, however, in consequence of the low prices of 1832 to 1836, but in consequence of the wet seasons (notwithstanding the high prices) of 1829-30-31.t " A point has been reached in many localities beyond which it " is hardly possible the rates can be raised, and it would not be " judicious to raise them, yet the necessities of local taxation are " increasing, more money is going out by the present channels, and " a totally new branch of expenditure, viz., for education, is imme- " diately in prospect." " Economist," 16th May, 1868. At the same time it is probable, for the reasons just stated, that there will still remain a substantial body of rates on real property to form the subject of better arrangement. Having thus briefly stated the manner in which local taxation generally is raised, and the increase which it has recently experienced, it is desirable to enter on the consideration of two of the main points of the subject. These are : the rates which are levied, and the constitution of the authorities by which they are levied. As the local taxation is levied mainly on one branch of property, namely, on real estate, it might have been expected that the method of raising the sums required would have been equally simple. But instead there are almost as many taxes in the local as in the imperial code. * See remarks, in Appendix VII, on Taxation in Holland, f " Tooke's History of Prices," vol. iii, pp. 42 and 43. Agricultural Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, 1836, questions 5346 to 5348. THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND I KM .LANK 11 II. General Outline of Principal Local Taxes. The principal rates levied for local purposes are:-- CLASS I. Bates levied in primary districts, such as a parish. 1. The Poor Rate. 2. The Highway Rate. 3. The Burial Board Rate. 4. The Lighting and Watching Rate. 5. The General District Rate. 6. The Sewerage Rate. 7. The Towns Improvement Rate. 8. The Animals Contagious Diseases Rate. 9. The Church Rate. 10. The Sewers Rate. 11. The General Sewers Rate. 12. The Drainage Embankment and Enclosure Rate. Bates levied in aggregate districts, such as a county. 1. The County Bates. 2. The Hundred Bate. 3. The Borough Bates. This list, however, by no means exhausts the whole number ; a complete list of all the several local rates is given in the Appendix to the Beport of the Select Committee. The summary in Mr. Groschen's Beport of 1870 gives a clear idea of the vast interests administered by these authorities. " In order, therefore, to arrive at a clear conception of the whole " extent of local finance, it became necessary to institute an " exhaustive and minute inquiry into every source of local revenue. " The aggregate amounts received and expended in a given year by " each class of local authority in England and Wales, reaches the " astounding totals of 30,140,000^. of receipts, and 30,240,000^. of " expenditure. No comment is needed on the importance of the " considerations which this result of my inquiry suggests. The " bodies entrusted with the management of these funds form twenty " classes, as follows : 1. Board of guardians, responsible for the expenditure "I OOQ of receipts amounting to J > 7 > 2. County magistrates and county treasurers, responsible "I Qoo for the expenditure of receipts amounting to J '^ " Then follow seven classes of authorities exclu- " sively urban in character: 12 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 3. Municipal boroughs .................................... 2,710,000 4. Improvement commissioners ........................ 1,580,000 5. Local boards .................................................... 2,500,000 6. Vestries, &c., of the metropolis .................... 1,420,000 7. City of London Corporation and other 1 ^ ^Q QQQ city trusts ................................................ J ' ' 8. Metropolitan Board of Works .................... 2,110,000 9. The Metropolitan Police Commissioners .... 820,000 Total, about ---- 13,000,000 " The next two classes are 10. Commissioners of Sewers (extra- "J metropolitan) ................................ I receiving 1 11. Drainage and embankment autho- | together about j rities (extra-rnetropoli tan) ............ J " Then follow- 12. Lighting and watching authorities, under the old"! fi Act of 3 and 4 Wm. IV, cap. 90, receiving ............ J 13. Burial boards, receiving .................................................... 210,000 " Then follow two classes of authorities having " under their charge the repair of roads, namely It " Lastly, we have five other classes of bodies who " administer mostly indirect taxes, namely 16. Markets and fair authorities, receiving ............................ 60,000 17. Bridges and ferries, receiving ........................................ 130,000 18. Harbour authorities ........ "j 19. Pilotage ,, ........ > receiving together ............ 2,640,000 20. Mercantile marine fund J ' 168 } - g Aether .................... z , 42 o,ooo Total 30,140,000 " Looking broadly at these results, it may be well to bear in " mind the following facts : Distinctly urban authorities receive 13,000,000 rural 5,030,000 18,030,000 i.e. E-oad authorities 2,420,000 County 2,300,000 Lighting and watching authorities .... 80,000 Drainage authorities 230,000 5,030,000 Authorities partly urban, partly rural, receive 9,470,000 i.e. Boards of guardians 9,070,000 Burial boards 210,000 Bridges, ferries, market dues 190,000 9,470,000 Maritime authorities receive 2,640,000 Total 30,140,000 THE LOCAL TAXAMON <>F :i.M..\T I'.IMTAIN A\l> IKKI.AXK 13 " Nothing can be more important than that these broad lines of " division should be borne clearly in mind. It may not be unneces- " sary to repeat that the sums specified here as received by each " class of local authority, include the proceeds of loans and other " sources of revenue, as well as the sums raised by rates."* These sums, whether derived from rates or loans, are raised for purposes differing very widely from each other, and may be roughly divided into two heads, those which, like the poor's rate, part of the watching rate, the county and borough rates, are referable to the government and social administration of the country, and those which, like the general district, sewerage, town improve- ments, and drainage rates generally, are raised for purposes in which the owners, and the ratepayers as well, presumably have a beneficial interest, in the shape either of sanitary or other improve- ment. The general division, as well as the recent increase, is described in Mr. Goschen's report, as follows : " To sum up this part of my subject, it should be remembered " that, on the broadest historical survey, there has been, since 1841, " an increase of 8,ooo,oooZ. in local burdens, of which J" are due to poor law expenditure, which excess for the present ' ' \ I will assume to be partly rural, partly urban. {are due to new rates, for the most part imposed since 1840, of which 5,ooo,oooZ. are due to town rates, and only 500,000^. to county police. {are due to an increase in highway rates and county rates, and miscellaneous expenditure, of which the main portion falls on rural districts. 8,000,000 " Thus, 5,000,000 would fall on towns. 1,000,000 ,, rural districts. {on poor law unions, which for the present may be considered as partly rural and partly urban. [In a later portion of my report I deal with the distribution of this increase.] " Of the total rates of 16,500,000?. (in round numbers) now " spent by local authorities, the following is a broad analysis : 5,000,000, or 30*0 per cent., are exclusively urban rates. f 1 8*5 being county and highway rates, are exclu- 3,000,000,^ sirely rural. 8,000,000, 48-5 being poor law expenditure ; and, / ,, 3*0 ,, being miscellaneous rates, are partly urban 500,000, rural. 16,500,000 ioo'o' Report on Local Taxation, Xo. 470, 1870." THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The authorities by whom the local rates are levied and expended, differ no less widely than the purposes for which they are raised. The rates may, for this purpose, be again divided into two classes : I. Those which are levied by one authority and expended by another. II. Those which are levied and expended by the same authority. It will be observed that the principal part of the local taxation of the country falls within the first division. The administration of the amounts levied is thus separated in great measure from those who contribute the sums raised.* NOT is this deficiency of control in the local powers supplemented in any real degree by the central authority. Instead, this naturally feeble control is further greatly diminished in power by the manner in which the governing bodies themselves are constituted. The boards of guardians for the poor and highway boards, consist partly of ex officio, partly of elected members. The numbers in 1870 were : Elected Guardians. Ex Officio Guardians. Total. England . 1 0,008 64.26 2C <24. Wales 1,427 668 2,OQ ^ Total 20,525 7,094 27,619 The county rates are entirely assessed and administered by ex officio authority, in the appointment of which the ratepayers have absolutely no authority whatever."!" The following remarks of the Sanitary Commissioners' Report of 1870, refer to some of the evils which result from this confusion of authorities : " Local government is greatly impeded and wasted by the want " of coincidence of the several areas of its various jurisdictions. " The petty sessional divisions, poor law unions, and highway * " The existing inspecting power of the Local Government Act Office is utterly inadequate even to the present requirements being, according to Mr. Taylor's estimate, about half what is necessary and yet in the opinion of our most com- petent witnesses, effective inspection is the key to the working of the whole machinery. We deprecate the maintenance of parallel inspectorates of sanitary and poor law administration under the same chief minister, not only on the ground of waste of powers, but still more of probable conflict. We agree generally in Mr. Redgrave's opinion that there should be one staff for enforcing all regulations bearing on the health of the people." " Report of the Sanitary Commission, " 1870," p. 33. f Table N shows that in the year 1867 the rates thus levied amounted in England to 1,343,065^. per annum, in Wales to 105,4652., while debts had been incurred amount-ing to 2,3 79, 8 99^. in England, and 204,092^. in Wales. This table likewise shows the increasing character of the sums thus administered during the period 1856-67. THK LOCAL lAXATlON OF tSUI'AT UKILAIN AND IKI'I.AND. 1"' " districts being generally different, a corresponding difference " occurs in much that appertains to the administration. Instead of " one superior clerk for all these, one single collection of rates, one " set of officers for inspections, and a uniform system and concert of " plans, and of their enforcement, each must have it own machinery, " frequently in conflict or in duplicate, as the areas happen to be " partly the same, partly different ; and there can neither be com- " bined efficiency nor general economy." " Report of the Sanitary " Commissioners, 1870," p. 21. The manner in which the elected authorities are appointed differs very greatly in almost every point. It may be added that the mode of voting for the different governing local authorities is also not uniform. Thus the guardians of the poor in municipal boroughs are elected by a voting paper left at each house, to be initialled and signed by the voter. These voting papers are gathered in by an authorised collector, and the clerk to the guardians makes the return. In the case of town councils, a voting paper is like- wise left ; this the voter has not only to sign, but to deliver in person at the appointed polling place for the ward, the alderman presiding over the poll. As modes of election in this country appear likely to be modified shortly, it may be only needful to men- tion here, that the plan adopted in the election of guardians, though it protects the voter from the influence and intimidation which may possibly be brought to bear on the timid or needy at the polling place, or on the way thither, is nevertheless open to the objection that, in the case of the poorer and more illiterate voters, and especially of those who sign by a mark, and require the presence of a witness ; that witness, who will probably be the collector of the voting papers, may exercise an undue influence, and, if an employe of the existing board, will always be liable to the imputation, whether deserved or not, of thus endeavouring to promote the interests of his employers. The existing mode of voting for town councillors is, however, open to greater objections than these, and leads in many cases frequently, it is to be feared usually, to treating, bribery, and many of the evils attendant on the elections for Members of Parliament. The only point of uniformity of procedure is that the rate in almost every instance, is paid by the occupier in England. A portion of the tax, however, beyond doubt, is ultimately paid by the owner. In very few cases, however, has the owner, as such, any power in controlling the expenditure of the taxation on his property. The subject is further complicated by the fact that in many instances the ownership is divided. Thus a house is frequently owned by a leaseholder for a term of years. The leaseholder pays a ground- rent to the landowner, and receives a rent for the house from a 16 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. tenant. This is but one instance of the difficulties in the compli- cated questions which arise from the variety in procedure, joined with variety in tenure. As mentioned above, the purposes for which rates are levied are broadly divided into two heads : I. Government and social administration. II. Improvement and sanitary purposes. The first head includes the expenditure under the poor law, " the largest branch of expenditure for local purposes of all local " burdens. In this item there has been, broadly speaking, a con- " siderable increase. The fluctuations, indeed, have been so great, " that the most contrary conclusions might be drawn by statis- " ticians if they were permitted to select single years for com- 11 parison. The fair mode of dealing with this expenditure is to " take averages over certain periods, long enough to afford time for " the operation of exceptional causes to be counterbalanced by the " effects of several ordinary years. " The result of taking averages over the last fifty years, in " decennial periods, is as follows : Average yearly expenditure for poor relief, 1819-29 6,300,000 '29-39 5,700,000 '39-49 5,200,000 '49-59 5,500,000 '59-69 6,500,000 " These figures show that this branch of expenditure has risen " from the lowest average, 5,2oo,oooZ., to the highest average, " 6,5OO,ooo/., showing an increase of 1,300,000^. But it may fairly " be said that, looking to the last five years, the average of the last " ten years affords an insufficient notion of the present charge. The " figures should be considered more in detail. It is to be remarked " that The lowest figure during the whole period was, in 1837 4,050,000 highest '69 7,700,000 The highest figure in the first ten years of the series was, in 1820 7,330,000 ,, second ,, '30 6,830,000 third '48 6,180,000 ,, fourth ,, '56 6,000,000 fifth '69 7,700,000 " It thus appears that the average increase in the last decade " has been i,3OO 5 ooo/. over the loivest decade in the last fifty years. " This sum represents the average annual disadvantage to which " rateable property has been subjected during the last ten years in " respect of expenditure for the relief of the poor, as compared with " the most favourable decade in the century, irrespective of the THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 17 " increase in the value of rateable property, and of the parts of the " country where the increase has taken place. But let it be assumed " that the expenditure for the last year has been normal, and that " 7,7OO,ooo/. represents the probable cost of the relief of the poor " for future years ; let this amount then be compared with the " average expenditure not of the heavy years between 1812 and "1819, but of the forty years, 1820-60, for which the ^average " expenditure was between 5,700,000^. and 5,800,000^.; and the " present excess is, therefore, a little under 2,ooo,oooZ." " Report " on Local Taxation, 1870." Though the working of the poor law in England has been open to great objections, yet the parochial system, defective as it is, has done much to counteract many of the abuses of the administration of that law. The influence of the parochial system in this respect, has been clearly and briefly stated by the late Mr. Ricardo, in words which are still very applicable to the present time, notwith- standing the many alterations which have taken place since they were written : " The present mode of collecting and applying the fund for the " support of the poor has served to mitigate its pernicious effects. " Each parish raises a separate fund for the support of its own " poor. Hence it becomes an object of more interest and more " practicability to keep the rates low, than if one general fund was " raised for the relief of the whole kingdom. A parish is much " more interested in an economical collection of the rate, and a " sparing distribution of relief, when the whole saving will be for " its own benefit, than if hundreds of parishes were to partake of " it." " Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy." First edition, p. 113. The operation of the English law of settlement, combined with this strong local interest in the amount of poor rates levied in each parish, led, however, to some abuses, by means of which certain parishes, principally in the hands of individuals, avoided their due share of the general burden. Recent legislation has mitigated some of these abuses. One very important alteration was effected in the law by the passing of the Union Chargeability Act, 28 and 29 Viet., cap. 70. " Under the provisions of this Act some parishes " which, from peculiar circumstances, had escaped the burden of " the relief of the poor, and extra-parochial places which had " hitherto been exempted from it, will incur some additional pecu- " niary liability, but there can be little doubt that all places com- " prised in one union, and having such mutual interests as their " vicinity to each other must create, may properly be required to " bear in common the relief of those who become destitute within its " limits ; and we trust that, whilst it will lead to an improved and c 18 THE LOCAL TAXATION OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " uniform management of the poor, it will also be found no less " beneficial to the labouring class and the owner and occupier of " property." "Eighteenth Report of the Poor Law Board," p. 21. The effect of this Act is thus described in a circular issued by the Poor Law Board, 28th February, 1866, calling the attention of boards of guardians to the changes to take effect from the 25th of the next month : " From and after that day the separate parochial " chargeability of the poor in the union will cease. Thenceforth all " the cost of the relief of the poor and the expenses of the burial of " the dead under the direction of the guardians or their officers, " vaccination fees, and registration fees, and expenses are to be " charged to the common fund of the union." " Nineteenth Annual " Report," p. 34. The Metropolitan Poor Act of 1867, creating a metropolitan common poor fund, is an enactment similar in character to tho preceding adjusted to metropolitan requirements.* The expenses chargeable to this fund, and the area of the operation of the Act, are stated below. These alterations are designed to mitigate some of the most oppressive effects of the incidence of the poor's rate in particular localities. The above-named alterations are, as stated, designed to effect a more equitable mode of contribution; meanwhile the efforts of the late President of the Poor Law Board (Mr. Goschen) have been continually directed to measures intended to diminish the general charge by judicious management. f The arrangements for separate schools for pauper children in certain places ; the endeavour to organise a well-regulated system of boarding-out such children both appear well digested plans for endeavouring to diminish the great amount of hereditary pauperism. The establishment of a training ship for orphan boys, has been also referred to as likely to promise a " satisfactory outlet" for such children. (See " Twenty - " second Report of Poor Law Board," LV.) But notwithstanding these and other similar plans, a vast amount of pauperism will remain, at least for many years, a charge on the energies of the country. When the present system of poor relief was first established in England, and for many years subsequently, it is probable that the weight of the tax was borne by the land of the country. The original intention of the legislation of Elizabeth was to combine voluntary with compulsory contribution ; where the former method failed, " it seems to have been thought that the tax could be laid on " the occupier without affecting the owner of the land." " Report " on Local Taxation, 1843," p. 33. * Vide Appendix, No. V. f Some remarks by Mr. McCulloch are given, Appendix IV, on the Scotch THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 19 But since that period a vast alteration has taken place in the constitution of the property of the country, and consequently in the incidence of the tax. This point, namely the progressive increase of the value of real property other than land, forms so important an element in the con- sideration of this portion of the question that a Table (M) has been added to illustrate the subject, by showing that the alteration in the character of "realty," is not the result of any casual circumstances, but of the tendency of affairs in the country generally. This table extends over a period earlier in date than that proposed for this immediate inquiry, but the additional illustration it affords, will, it is hoped, be a sufficient justification for its introduction. By its aid it becomes clear that "lands and other descriptions of real property," have, broadly speaking, in the course of half a century, changed places in regard to value ; and likewise consequently in the amount of contribution to this form of direct taxation. Table M likewise shows the progressive character of the increase, and, to use the words of Mr. Purdy we may say that in 1864-65 as against 1851-52, that 1 0*3 per cent, has passed from the land and gone upon other assessable property. Land would appear now liable to bear rather more than one-third of any burden laid upon real property gene- rally ; and real property other than land rather less than two-thirds. Mr. Goschen's calculations, comparing the years 1814, 1843, and 1868, support this statement: " If we take, in the first place, the variations in the proportions " of the value of lands to houses and other property, and the " variations in the amount of the burdens borne by each respec- " tively, we find more evidence bearing upon the increase in value " than upon the proportionate shares borne by each at different " periods ; but as regards value, the materials exist for the year " 1814, and for the whole series of years between 1843 and 1868. " In the year 1814 the total annual value was 53,495,000?., dis- " tributed as follows : Lands 37,063,000 Houses 14,895,000 Railways Other property i>537> oo "In 1843 the total value was 85,803,000?., distributed as " follows : Lands 42,128,000 Houses 35>55 6 > Railways 2,418,000 Other property 5,701,000 20 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " In 1868 the total value was 1 43,87 3,000*., distributed as follows : Lands 47,767,000 Houses 68,013,000 Kailways (Schedule D) 15,980,000 Other property (Schedule D) 12,113,000 Total 143,873,000 " The percentages of the various classes of property to the total " value of real property, are worked out with the following " results : 1814. 1843. 1868. Lands 69'28 49-10 33'20 Houses 27-84 41-44 47'27 Eailways 2-82 ll'll Other property 2'88 6*64 8'42 100-00 100-00 100-00 Land increased in value, between 1814 and 1843, "1 , ,s f r 37,063,000 to 42,127,000 13-66 per cent., viz., from J 5/ ' 5> Houses increased in value between 1814 and"! Q 1843, 138-71 per cent., viz., from / '4,895,ooo 3 5,556,ooo Other property, including railways, increased in "j value, -between 1814 and 1843, 428-18 peri- 1,537,000 8,118,000 cent., viz., from J The total increase of all property between the same two years was 60*39 per cent. " Taking the comparison between 1814 and 1868, the facts are "these: 37,063,000 to 47,766,000 H,895,ooo 68,022,000 Other property, including railways, increased! between 1814 and 1843, 1,727-72 per cent., > 1,537,000 28,092,000 viz., from J The total increase of all property between the same two years being 168 '94 per cent. " it appears from, the foregoing figures that a complete revolu- " tion has taken place in the relative position of lands and other " classes of property as contributors to local taxation. While in " 1814, lands, speaking broadly, represented 70 per cent, of the total " value of real property, they now represent only 33 per cent., or " less than half of the previous percentage ; houses, which in 1814 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 21 " contributed only 27*84 per cent., or little more than one-quarter of " the value of real property, now represent 47 "27, or nearly one-half ; " while railways and other property, which in 1814 contributed only " 2*88 to the whole, now together contribute 19*53. " The scope of these facts in their effect upon the incidence of " local taxation will not escape attention. It will be seen that " though the increase in the value of lands has been decided and " progressive, it has been far outstripped by the progress of other " kinds of property. If the amount of taxation had remained the " same, it is clear that a great portion of the burden originally borne " by lands would have been shifted on to other classes of property ; " but the aggregate amount of taxation has increased. Has that " portion of it which falls on lands increased in a greater proportion " than the 28*88 per cent, which lands themselves have increased in " value ? The analysis already given as to the increase in local " burdens, and the particular rates in which the increase is most " marked, shows that it has not. Irrespective of the new rates, " there has been a marked decrease in the average rate in the pound, " and the increased proportion of the new rates, being exclusively " urban, has fallen not on land, but on houses and other property. " Materials exist for testing conclusively the truth of this view, even " if the statement showing the growth of new rates in towns did not " prove it." "Report on Local Taxation, 1870," p. 19. With regard to the amount of poor's rates raised in the agricul- tural districts, the effect of a system of organised poor relief like that of England and Wales on the wage-earning classes, must not be lost sight of. There is little doubt but that it does to a certain extent cheapen labour. Mr. Purdy considers that ' ' English poor rates largely " supplement wages, and consumers thereby gain some temporary but " in its consequences more than doubtful benefit."* According to Mr. Thorold Rogers : " Economically considered, a poor rate is an " insurance of the labourer's life and health. It maintains him " in old age, assists him in sickness, protects him when labouring " under mental disease, and supplies him with the services of a " highly skilled person in the shape of a medical officer. Now it is " plain that at the existing rate of agricultural wages, the farm " labourer, and, to some extent the artisan, could hardly supply " these services for himself. A poor rate, then, is a rate in aid of " wages, under which wages are supplemented, and, therefore, the " prime cost of labour is diminished. The poor rate, then, is not '* wholly loss. It cheapens labour, and so increases rent. Take it " away, and a considerable portion of that which the landowners " might receive in the shape of an increased rent, due to a diminished * Vide Mr. Purdy on the Pressure of Taxation on Real Property. Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xxxii, p. 319. 22 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " outlay for the maintenance of the poor, would be re-assumed by " the farmer in consequence of the exalted cost at which labour would " be procurable. It is a notorious fact, that where wages are low, 11 poor rates are high."* Table O gives the rate of wages in those English counties in which poor rates are relatively the highest and lowest, and bears out this statement to a certain extent. There are also other large employers of labour in this country beside farmers ; and manufac- turers of all descriptions participate in this "doubtful benefit " in a somewhat similar manner, and in the proportion which the cost of labour bears to the total expense of production. As in many descriptions of manufactures the expenditure on labour bears a large ratio to the total cost, the question so far does not apply less to the urban than to the rural employer. The difference in the wages paid and the difference in the social position of the two classes of workpeople must not, however, be lost sight of. It is probable that the classes who, in proportion to their taxation to the poor's rate, gain the least collateral advantage from it, are the pro- fessional, the non-productive, and the small shopkeepers. Although from its nature statistical proof is impossible, yet it does not admit of a doubt that, in many instances, the poor's rates press very heavily on many of the classes but one remove from pauperism. It is desirable that the late Mr. Ricardo's thoughtful remarks on the subject should not be forgotten, f * Vide Professor J. E. T. Rogers on the Incidence of Local Taxation. Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xxxiii, pp. 250 and 251. f " No scheme for the amendment of the poor laws merits the least attention, " which has not their abolition for its ultimate object ; and he is the best friend *' to the poor and to the cause of humanity, who can point out how this end can *' be attained with the most security, and at the same time with the least violence. 1' QR1AT HIM IAIN AND 1 1; 11 1. \ N I . " intentions of the legislature ; that they were, many of them, " illiterate, many corrupt ; that for the purpose of instructing "them in their duties, and restraining them from doing wrong, " both to the crown and the subject, it was necessary for the Govern- " ment to maintain another large staff of officers to go over the same " ground, and that after all precaution and expense there remained " an amount of evasion of taxes which could scarcely be accounted " for by mere carelessness or ignorance. " It is almost invariably the practice to appoint the same per sons " to be assessors and collectors for assessed taxes as for land tax, " and very generally for income tax also. There is no inconvenience, " but rather an advantage in this, but the same cannot be said of " the practice which widely prevails of conferring the offices of " assessor and collector on the same individual. It arose from the " fact that assessors of land and assessed taxes are unpaid, and " having the opportunity of returning themselves to be the col- " lectors, they secure the poundage which is attached to that office. " This practice has extended to the income tax, with regard to " which it is even more objectionable than in the case of the land " and assessed taxes, while it is also without excuse, as assessors of " income tax are entitled to the same poundage as the collectors, " viz., three half-pence in the pound on the amount of duties paid " over by the collectors to the revenue. Great facility for fraud is " thus afforded, and cases have occurred where collectors have " received and appropriated to their own use large sums paid in " discharge of returns which had been rendered to them in their " capacity of assessors, instead of to the clerks to the Coinmis- " sioners. The returns they had either suppressed or destroyed, " and thus no charge was raised against them for the duty." " Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, 1870," p. 103. No systematic arrangement like that of the Inland Revenue Commissioners is found in the administration of the local taxation of the country generally. It exists certainly in one portion of the organisation of one department that of the Poor Law Board. In their Twenty-second Annual Report, 1869-70, the audit districts under their control are referred to.* In the Return 16, 1866, " Local Government," referring to audits, many details may be found respecting the local audits, which tend to show how incomplete they are. Several remarks occur to the same effect in the evidence before the Select Committee. " In the year 1864 the Select Committee " of the House of Commons on Poor Relief recommended that the * In the Return 16, 1866, "Local Government/' referring to audits, many details may be found respecting the local audits which tend to show how incom- plete they are. Several remarks occur to the same effect in the evidence before the Select Committee. 34 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " number of the then existing audit districts should be reduced as " vacancies occurred, and the vacant districts incorporated with " others, the object of the recommendation being to make the audit " districts sufficiently large to render it necessary that the auditors " should devote the whole of their time to the public service. Since " that period we have given effect, as far as practicable, to the " policy thus indicated. There are still a large number of districts " which require to be dissolved and amalgamated with others, and it " is our intention to deal with them in this manner as far as prao- " ticable, when vacancies occur." " Report, 1869-70," p. 64. The Poor Law audit deserves attention as being of an efficient description, but it may be observed that it refers in some respects more to the expenditure than to the levy of the rates, and that it in no way applies to a check on those openings for fraud which may occur in the collection. Many of the local officers, beyond doubt, perform their duties most efficiently ; they attend carefully to the interests of their localities, and are honest and upright. Still, the story reported by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue * might perhaps find a parallel elsewhere, and there is no doubt great ignorance and great carelessness among some, especially in remote country parishes, while it is very possible that the slackness of supervision permits, to say the least, the possibility of peculation. The want of publicity in the amount of assessment, as well as of the percentage of each rate, gives some further opening for fraud. Every taxpayer knows exactly the proportions and percentage of the income tax, the licence duties, the stamp duties, are arranged on a clear and intelligible system. The excise duties are probably as well known to those on whom as to those by whom they are levied. If a penny in the pound is added to the income tax the whole country is aware of it. But does any analogous knowledge of the subject exist with regard to local taxation. Does it often occur to a ratepayer to make himself sure that the amount which his house stands at for the purpose of rating in the overseers' accounts, is the same as that stated in the rate collectors' books, either of demand notes or receipts? A different scale of deduc- tion from the rateable value exists for different rates. It would require more knowledge than is usually possessed by the ordinary ratepayer, to detect the imposition if he were charged for both systems of rates on the same footing. If the ratepayer has ascer- tained the rateable value of his premises, and has made himself certain that the deductions are made on the proper scale, does he often also ascertain that the amount in the pound for which he is charged corresponds with the rate made ? Does not the demand * Vide note, p. 32, and also for the opinion of the Inland Revenue Depart- ment, on the local assessors and collectors, p. 33. mi: LOCAL FIXATION OF ORBA1 HKITAIN AND IKKI,\\I>. note frequently inform 1dm for the first time of the amount of ili<> rate ? If the collector continued a higher rate, or mis-stated the figures to his own advantage, how many ratepayers, even of an educated sort, would have discovered the fraud ? In giving this hint, it will be understood that no charge is meant to be brought against a body of men, as such, who in many cases discharge their duties honestly and efficiently, but it must at least be very obvious that great opportunities for fraud exist; and it is no less certain that such opportunities are liable to become very injurious to those who possess them. VI. Consolidation of Local Rates. The consolidation of all local rates for all local purposes what- ever ; and the levying this consolidated rate at one, or at most at two periods of the year, would have many and great advantages over the existing system. The different local governing bodies should communicate their requirements to the proper authorities, who, on learning the amounts required, would proceed to levy the needful tax. Since this was written Mr. Goschen has introduced a Bill for local rating and government, and has proposed that a consolidated rate, similar in great measure to that suggested above, should be made, and should be levied annually. On the demand note all the items for which the rate is levied will be stated, but the whole amount will be collected in one sum. Out of the fund thus raised all local authorities, town councils, local boards, boards of guardians, and others, will receive what they need. A complete provision for the collection of this consolidated rate and for the auditing of the expenditure is included. This plan promises to be a very great improvement on that hitherto in use. It will have the great advantage of keeping the control of the total expenditure of a parish under the supervision of one authority, instead of the subdivision now existing ; a subdivision which tends to cause all sense of responsibility to be lost. The plan of consolidating taxes, and collecting them at one time, has been found to work satisfactorily where it has been put into force. By Mr. Lowe's recent alteration in the method of collecting the income tax and the licence rates, which take the place of what used to be termed the assessed taxes, a very considerable sum is claimed from every taxpayer at the commencement of each year. Some objections were made to this at the time ; objections which were best stated in an article in the " Economist," of 25th December, 1869 ; and mainly amounted to a doubt whether under existing arrangements an undesirable inequality was not caused in the amounts taken from the taxpayer at different times. D2 36 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. To consolidate all local charge into one rate, and to collect that rate annually, six months after the Government direct taxes are collected, would meet these objections to a great extent by counter- balancing the new year's claim of the Imperial Government with a midsummer claim of the parish, municipality, or county. The tax would be leviable by anticipation for the coming year, as the licences which take the place of the assessed taxes are now ; this would extremely diminish the number of defaulters, and render fraud, for the broken period between the determination of one tenancy and the commencement of another, impossible. An arrangement like this would go far to counterbalance the inequality complained of. The only point that might appear at first sight an objection is, that the amount thus proposed to be raised exceeds the totals of the duties levied at present in the January of each year. But there would be immediate advantages which would go far to compensate this, and other objections. It is almost certain, judging by experience in such matters, that great saving of expense would arise from the complete supervision of accounts ; the more careful auditing ; the greater exactness in every way which would be obtained. Nor must other points be overlooked. At present the vast sums raised for local purposes escape general attention from the manner in which they are levied. Few are aware till their attention is specially called to it, that the expenditure for the relief of the poor alone, is in many years a far heavier impost than the income tax, while the total levy for all local purposes is now far heavier than the highest income tax raised in this country since its re-imposition by Sir R. Peel, equivalent at this time to an income tax of is. 6d. in the pound.* If the total amount raised for local purposes were stated in one comprehensive report, with separate subsidiary reports for each locality, it would become an easy matter to compare the rating and outlay in different places. At present very little general knowledge on the subject exists. The variation between the rates of places close or contiguous to each other is generally known through the fact that individuals hold or occupy property in the different localities, or through the ordinary conver- sation of common life. But it is more than probable that the rate- payers, say of York, are entirely ignorant of the amounts levied in Ripon, except so far as some casual and imperfect intimation may reach them through a paragraph in the newspaper. And yet infor- * Expenditure for the relief of the poor, 1867-68, 7,498, 06 iZ. "Report of " Poor Law Board, 1869-70," p. vii. Income tax, year ended 31st March, 1868, 6,184,166^. Rate q.d. in the pound. " Report of Commissioners of Inland Revenue," p. 3. Estimate of total amount raised by local taxation in the United Kingdom for 1870, 25,000,000^. " Statistical Abstract, 1870," p. 5. THE LOCAL TAXATION '! <;KI:\T r.iMTAix ANI> i I:I:I.A\I>. :;7 mation on such points is eminently desirable ; there maybe, perhaps, some better form of administration in the one place as compared with the other, which might be a very useful thing to be known. The only means of convoying t liis information at present existing, beyond those mentioned above, which are manifestly inadequate, are found in the Annual Reports of the Poor Law Board, and in the recently published Returns on Local Taxation. The reports just named are of the greatest service in their several ways, but they only include portions of the subject. An annual return including a general and comprehensive report, with an appendix divided into pamphlets of a convenient size, in the same manner as the volumes of the Irish Census, would give the means of diffusing authentic intelligence throughout the kingdom. The local rate thus levied would continue to be administered by the municipal authorities in all cities and boroughs. The consolida- tion of the payments would afford in most instances continuous occupation for the collectors, who should devote the whole of their time to the business. If the local levy were small, the authorities might advantageously avail themselves of the assistance of the officers of the Inland Revenue. In rural parishes the requisite notices might easily be distributed through the post offices, where the local rates might likewise be paid. One principle for assess- ment should prevail, with a uniform system of deductions. It would greatly simplify matters if every tenement or property rated to local rates were numbered, and had this number marked on it in some suitable manner. This number would equally apply to the occupier, whether owner or tenant. It should correspond with the number in the rate-book, and in the register for voting, whether parochial or municipal, county or parliamentary. This number would be marked on the demand note or assessment paper, which would be annually left at each dwelling ; and by it the tax payer would be readily recognised when he went to the tax office of his district. The production of the receipt would identify the tax payer at the polling place when he went to vote at a parochial, municipal, county, or parliamentary election. The case of the " compound householder " would for this purpose present no diffi- culty. His habitation would likewise receive its number, and it should be made compulsory on the landlord, within a reasonable time after the delivery of the receipt to him, to deliver the same to the occupier. To prevent personation, it would be needful to limit the right of voting to those electors who had gone themselves to the guildhall of the local government, and signed their names on the register, and at the back of the receipt at the same time. If it be objected, how would this meet the cases of those unable from want of education to sign their own names, it may be replied, can 38 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. those who are unable to meet this lowest test of education be fit to exercise the franchise ? A limitation as to the time before this provision should be brought into effect would obviate much diffi- culty, and arrangements could easily be made for keeping the offices of the local governments open at such hours as would be suitable for all classes. It might be possible to save much of the expense of collection, by charging a percentage on all rates not brought to the local office within a certain stipulated date, after the time when the rate was made. This percentage would defray some of the cost of collec- tion, while the bringing the remainder to the local office by the ratepayers themselves would, by rendering fewer local officers neces- sary, tend to diminish expense. The rate being levied annually, at a fixed date, would greatly facilitate these arrangements. Nor would such a method in any way interfere with existing arrangements. Those rates which are now levied locally would continue to be so levied, only with the great advantage of a trained staff of officers and a careful system. Another desideratum would be more easily attained than under the existing mode of collection, viz., the consolidation of the local administration. As matters stand at present, there can hardly be fewer than two, there are generally more, governing bodies in every locality. The guardians of the poor administer their portion ; the board of health do their share ; the town councils, the county magistrates, to mention only some of the most prominent governing bodies, have their own functions as welL The school boards already appointed in many places, likely soon to be very general, if not universal, will, like those governing bodies previously named, have their own power of rating, with, it is to be presumed, all the authority of the other boards. The Sanitary Commissioners of 1870, looking at the subject from another point of view, have arrived at the same opinion. " We now wish to lay the utmost stress upon the importance " of taking every possible step towards introducing coincidence " between the areas of petty sessions, highway districts, and unions " which will be rural districts. " Unions, and sometimes even parishes, overlapping county boun- " daries ; registration districts making incomplete correspondence " with them in statistics of births and deaths ; highway districts " made optionally, and irrespectively of all other areas, or coinciding " sometimes with one, sometimes with another ; petty sessional " divisions generally differing from all ; cause altogether to a " country whose life is self-administration, probably the maximum " of embarrassment and waste of local government, and the utmost " loss of means and effectiveness. IIIK LOCAL TAXATION OF (ilM'.AT HK1TA1N AM. I!;U. "The same boundaries should, as far as possible, define Iho " areas of all these kinds of provincial executive, and their officers, " should be, as far as possible, the same for all those purposes." " Report of the Sanitary Commission, 1870," p. 53, It is scarcely within the scope of this work to go more into detail upon the composition of such a general board for local finance as is here suggested. It cannot be doubted but that great confusion in the fiscal system would take place, and in all probability vast needless expenditure be incurred, if one amount of tax were levied to maintain the army, another to provide for the navy, a third to defray the expenses of the civil list ; and if all these different taxes were charged on nearly the same property, but with differing classifications, and raised and administered by different boards, acting independently of each other. Yet this is but a faint picture of the existing local administration in England. Mr. Goschen's words on the 3rd April, 1871, on bringing in the Government measures for regulating local taxation, and for local government, describe the present state of matters very forcibly : " The truth is, that we have " a chaos as regards authorities, a chaos as regards rates, and a worse " chaos than all as regards areas. And not only that, but every " different form of collection which it is possible to conceive is applied " to the various local authorities administering these various rates in " these various areas." The proposed parochial boards and county financial boards will, it is to be hoped, provide the remedy recom- mended above. It is now desirable to proceed to a consideration of the system employed in Scotland and Ireland. VII. Scotland. In Scotland, the principle of dividing great part of the local taxation between the owner and the occupier of land appears to have prevailed from time immemorial. This principle is contained in the old Scotch statutes, which are the foundation of the Scotch poor laws ; those statutes contemplated that half of the entire sum should come from the land and the other half from the inhabitants.* The existing Scotch Poor Law Act was passed in 1845, by which parochial boards were empowered to raise the necessary funds for the relief of the poor, in three different ways : I. By resolving that half the rate be imposed on the owners, and half on the occupiers of all lands and heritages. II. By assessing half on the owners, according to the value of their lands, and half on the whole of the inhabitants, according to their means and substance other than lands and tenements. * " Report of the Select Committee on Local Taxation." Evidence of Mr. F. J. Cochran, 354. 40 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. III. By assessment, as an equal percentage upon the annual value of all lands and heritages, and upon the estimated annual income of the whole of the inhabitants from means and substance other than land heritages.* Practically speaking, the poor law assessment now is always raised according to the first method. " The system in Scotland was " to rate the owner uniformly till within recent years, when the " present poor law was passed. The occupier then had to pay half " the rates for the first time. That, however, was not altogether a " new payment, though it was a payment in a different manner, " because formerly, before there was any poor law, the paupers " were allowed to beg in the country. They had the privilege of " begging, and were supplied in kind by the farmers, and that pay- " ment in kind was, to great extent, converted into money under " the new poor law."t Macclesfield was given as an example of English municipal government ; in a similar way we may take Aberdeen, described in the evidence of Mr. J. Cochran, as an instance for Scotland. Mr. Cochran, besides being much employed in the assessment and collection of the county rates, poor rates, income tax, &c., has, with his firm, charge of very considerable heritable property, both in the city and county. In Scotland, nearly as great a diversity of rates appears to exist as in England, and a greater diversity even in the assessment ; but in the governing bodies, in the mode of assessment, especially as regards the poor rate, and in the way in which the collection is administered, the advantage rests with those dwelling north of the Tweed. The rates for the county of Aberdeen consist of the following, besides the poor's rates assessed as just mentioned : The County General Assessment. The Police Assessment. The Prisons Assessment. The Militia Depot Assessment. The Registration of Voters Assessment. The Aberdeen County and Municipal Buildings Assessment. The Cattle Diseases Prevention Assessment. The Turnpike Road Assessment. The Commutation Road Debt Assessment. The Roads Maintenance or Repair Assessment. The Roads Construction Assessment. * " Report of the Select Committee on Local Taxation." Evidence of Mr. J. Lambert, 2339. f Ibid. Evidence of Mr. J. Caird, 4131. Till. LOCAL TAXATION 01 QBBA1 HKII.M.N AND IKKI.A.ND. 41 Of these, the commutation road debt assessment is parochial, and only applies when a commutation road debt is in existence. The road repair assessment is over the whole county, but varies Avithin each of the districts for which the county is divided for that purpose. The four different road assessments are in virtue of a local Act. All these various rates are raised from the owner only. But the arrangement as to the road maintenance rate, and the cattle diseases rate is, that the landlord may recover half the tax from the tenant. In all the other cases the tax falls entirely on the landlord. With regard to the borough rates. In the city of Aberdeen, besides the poor rates, there are the police assessment, which in- cludes watching, lighting, water, and certain criminal expenditure ; a public health rate and a municipal building rate, under the charge of the commissioners of police ; and the rogue money, spent in paying the procurator fiscal, or public prosecutor, and in the apprehending of criminals and the detection of crime. All these are levied on the occupier. The prisons assessment, the valuation assessment, the registra- tion of births and of voters assessment, under the charge of the lord provost and magistrates. The militia depot, the roads assess- ment (under borough road trustees), are levied equally on the owner and occupier. The sewer rate under the charge of the police commissioners, the county and municipal buildings and court house assessments (under the charge of the lord provost and magistrates), are on the owner only. Whatever proportions of these rates are paid by the owner and occupier are collected separately from the owner and occupier ; the doing this involves " additional labour," " and a great many more " entries in the books."* To illustrate the mode of assessment in a Scotch parish, half rural half urban, it is as well to cite the plan which Mr. Cochran set going in Old Machar, a parish containing nearly half the city of Aberdeen and five or six miles of farms outside it. Here, in order to avoid levying different rates on the inhabitants who were liable in different proportions, an arrangement was made to charge a uniform rate, but on different proportions of the rent. The plan was as follows : " Rules of assessment for the poor of the parish of Old Machar, " under the Act 8 and 9 Viet., cap. 83, intituled 'An Act for the " ' Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating * Tide evidence of Mr. F. J. Cochran, Mr. Lambert, and Mr. Caird, before Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1870. 42 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " ' to the Relief of the Poor in Scotland.' One-half of the whole " assessment required for the parish shall be imposed upon the " owners and the other half upon the tenants or occupants of all " lands and heritages within the parish, rateably according to the " annual value of such lands and heritages, and in levying each half " the following rules shall be observed. As to classification of lands : " the lands and heritages in the parish of Old Machar shall, for the " purposes of the assessment on the tenants or occupants, be distin- " guished into three separate classes ; the first class consisting " of dwelling-houses and whole other lands and heritages, except " those mentioned in the second and third classes ; the second consist- " ing of shops, warehouses, and stables used solely in the occupier's " trade or business, business offices, spinning mills, manufactories, " brick works, quarries, water powers and railways, gas pipes, " water pipes, and ground used for such pipes ; and the third class " consisting of farms, cultivated grounds, and fishings ; and that " the rates of assessment upon the tenants or occupants as such " shall be so fixed as that the rate upon those of the second of " the said classes shall be as nearly as possible one-half, and the " rate upon those of the third class as nearly as possible one-fourth " part respectively of the rate upon those of the first class."* The outcome of the scheme was that the s. d. Owners were rated at - 9 in the pound Occupiers, Class 1 i i^ 2 - 7 3 - 3* the owners paying 4,2 7 5^., the occupiers 4,73 3/., " or (deducting " arrears, &c.) as near as might be one-half of the whole." The local government of Aberdeen itself, with the number of different authorities mentioned above, appears to be nearly, if not quite, as complicated as that of Macclesfield. In the parish of Old Machar the poor law administration is conducted by a board of supervision. This does not meet above thrice in the year, and has full power to delegate their entire functions to various committees for the conduct of special portions of the business. The board consists of four different constituent bodies owners of lands and heritages of the value of 20?. and upwards, and any agent appointed in writing by a heritor entitled to be a member of the board ; the provost and baillies of the borough ; the kirk session, consisting of the minister and elders, who, if numbering more than six, have to send only six from their number ; and the elected members, about twenty in number. As there are about 1,500 2oZ. proprietors in * Mr. F. J. Cocliran's evidence to the Select Committee of the House of Commons, p. 18 (325). I ill: LOCAL 1AXA1IUN 0* GREAT BRITAIN A\l> lUKLAND. 43 the parish, little interest is taken in the choice of elected members, who form but a fractional part of the entire board. The whole arrangement seems to be a cumbrous one, but in Mr. Cochran's opinion it has worked pretty well. Purely urban parish boards are constituted on a different system. In St. Nicholas, Aberdeen, for instance, fifteen members are elected by the ratepayers, four by the magistrates of the borough, four more by the kirk session. In rural parishes the boards are constituted as in the instance given above of Old Machar; except, of course, as to the provost and baillies where no royal burgh is situated in the parish. The county rates are raised by commissioners of supply, who are " all the proprietors who own a life rent in lands, or who have " a life rent in lands of the yearly value of ioo/., or who are " owners in fee to that value, also the eldest son and the heir " apparent of the proprietor in fee of rents to the amount of 4. !-'. " more local character, levied of each barony or half barony of a " county, a division of the country which corresponds to a hundred " in England. The cess is levied by an equal poundage rate on " the occupiers of landed property in each barony or half barony. " The kind of property liable to assessment corresponds very " closely to that rateable to the poor rate in England and " Wales. " The origin of the jurisdiction of grand juries in Ireland over " roads and bridges dates so far back as the reign of King Charles I, " when by statute 10 Car. I, cap. 26, sec. 2 (Irish), correspond- " ing to 22 Henry VIII, cap. 5 (English), the justices of assize and " of the peace were directed to inquire what bridges in the county " were broken down or out of repair, and to award process on " presentment against such persons as were chargeable with the " repair. If the persons liable were unknown, the expense was to " be borne by the inhabitants of the county or barony where the " bridge was situate, and the justices were directed to tax the " inhabitants ' reasonably ' for that purpose, with the assent of the " grand jury. This appears to have been intended as a statutable " substitute for the common law remedy and procedure by indict- " ment, which, of course, would be of no avail where the parties " liable could not be ascertained. The sanction of the grand jury " to the taxation of the justices is quite peculiar to Ireland ; the " corresponding Act of Henry VIII required the assent of the " constables, or the inhabitants of the city, town, or parish. " From' this commencement a whole code of local legislation " peculiar to Ireland has arisen. In 1836 the power of the grand " juries was limited by the creation of a tribunal called presentment " sessions for each barony and for the county at large, consisting of " the magistrates of the county and a certain number of the highest " cesspayers chosen by ballot out of a list fixed by the grand jury. " Nearly all the presentments as to which the grand jury have any " discretion are required to be first passed at these presentment " sessions. " The constitution of these presentment sessions has been lately " fully considered by the Select Committee of the House of Com- " mons upon grand jury presentments, which sat during the session " of 1868, and propositions recommending the entire abolition of " both sessions and grand jury, and the substitution of elective " baronial and county boards, were fully discussed. The Com- " mittee, however, recommend that the present bodies should be " retained, but with some modifications, which, if adopted, will " have the effect of making the sessions more representative of the " general body of the cesspayers." " Returns of Local Taxation in " Ireland, 1869," p. 5. 46 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Local Taxation in Ireland, as Compared with that in England. " As stated in my former report" (Dr. Hancock observes, in 1869), " the valuations in the two countries admit of only a very " general comparison, as they are made under very different autho- " rities. The Irish valuation undergoes an annual revision in detail, " so far as the changes of occupation, or as the deterioration or " improvement in the value of buildings is concerned, but this does " not affect the gross value of each townland, exclusive of buildings, " which remains a constant sum from year to year, capable of " alteration only at the end of each period of fourteen years, and " even then only upon the application of the grand jury of the " county. In the northern counties, where the valuation has been " comparatively recent, it is believed to be within 20 per cent. " of the fair letting value of land on good estates, not including the " interest of yearly tenants or buildings ; while in the south, where " no alteration has been made in the basis adopted in the valuation " made during the period following the famine of 1846-47, when " the poor rates were high, and the state of agriculture depressed, " the valuation is believed to be still more below the letting value. " To whatever extent this is the case, the poundage rate of local " taxation in Ireland appears higher than it really is. " If the amount of local taxation (including all sums of receipts " except money borrowed) in the two countries, be compared in " proportion to the population, the following results appear: Estimated local taxation of Ireland, 1868 2,804,717 England and Wales 20,145,884 Amount of local taxation on a portion of the popu- 1 lation of England and Wales equal to the popula- i- 5,825,927 tion of Ireland J Amount by which the local taxation of Ireland is less ~| than the local taxation on an equal portion of the > 3,021,210 population of England and Wales J " It appears from the above that the local taxation of Ireland is " 3,O2i,2io/. less than it would be if the scale of local taxation per " head of the population was the same as in England and Wales. " It appears also that the rate of local taxation levied in " Ireland in 1868, may be estimated at 95. 2d. per head, whilst the " rate of local taxation in England and Wales in the same year may " be estimated at il. -s. $d. per head." " Returns of Local Taxa- " tion in Ireland, 1869." To arrive, however, at an estimate of the expenditure corre- sponding to the total local taxation of England, the charge for the Irish Constabulary Force, defrayed from the consolidated fund, should be added to this sum ; the amount of the vote for the current year, 1871, was 843,0077. THE LOOAI TAXATION BRITAIN AM> IRELAND, 47 A discrepancy in the returns is pointed out in the " Report of " the Irish Poor Law Commissioners for 1869." " It will be seen that the total disbursement of poor rates for " all purposes, viz., relief, medical relief, burial grounds, registration " of births, deaths, and marriages, and sanitary measures, was in " 1868, 847,9957., and the amount of poor rate collected 848,0707., " the levy and expenditure each making a poundage of is. $\d. in " the pound on the valuation. In 1869 the expenditure fell to " 817,7727., or is. 2\d. in the pound, and the poor rate collected to " 815,480^. " In a volume entitled ' Local Taxation, Ireland,' which has " been laid by Her Majesty's command before Parliament, that part " of the Irish local taxation for 1868 which consists of poor rate, " is incorrectly stated to have been 921,8077.,* and the poundage " thereof to be is. $d. in the pound on the valuation. This overstate- " ment arises from the parliamentary grant having been included " as part of that year's taxation. The grant, however, is provided " from the imperial funds, and is no part of the local taxation of " Ireland. Neither does it represent in any way the local expendi- ture of that year; for the grant is practically a recoup of " the expenditure in the previous year. In fact, for many years " past, neither the levy of poor rates nor the expenditure has " exceeded is. $\d. in the pound, and has usually been much below " it." "Annual Report of the Commissioners for Administering " the Laws for Relief of the Poor in Ireland, 1870," p. 20. IX. Some Other Points in Local Taxation. Some incidental but important points were reserved for further consideration in the outline of the main question given above. Among these are the objections which have been made to the manner in which the existing local taxation is raised, and to defray- ing certain charges from local funds. These have been put by Sir M. Lopes, with regard to the assessment on land employed for agricultural purposes, in a very forcible manner. Sir M. Lopes stated that "a man purchasing " a large estate, with the buildings dilapidated and the land " un drained, invested a considerable sum in the necessary improve- " ments, and was immediately assessed on those improvements. " Why should he pay local taxation on the money thus invested " more than if it had remained perhaps in the foreign funds ? So, " again, a man rented a farm for fourteen years. He found that " unless he spent a large sum in manure it would be a ruinous * The total local taxation for the year 1869, is given in Table S. No further analysis is attempted, the absence of a police rate, in general, for Ireland, affecting the totals so much as to prevent any useful comparison with England. 48 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELANI'. " undertaking. He borrowed money for the purpose, and imme- " diately the assessment committee came down upon him and made " him pay local taxation on the personal property he had borrowed " and invested in it."* The answer to objections of this class is twofold : That those who acted thus thought it worth while to do so ; That so far as the grievance exists, it is not an agricultural grievance only. The purchaser of the let- down estate in the one case, the hirer in the other, undoubtedly considered that they obtained, in con- sequence of the land being so much " run out," a cheaper bargain in proportion to condition than they could have done elsewhere, otherwise they would not have bought or hired it. It is true that some experienced land agents hold the contrary opinion ; namely, that land, when let down in condition, never sinks as low in value as is proportionate to that condition ; but there are, doubtless, exceptional cases. At all events, these persons thought otherwise. They thought it worth while to enter 011 these bargains ; they considered, perhaps truly, that the money invested in improvements was not only well secured, but would yield a larger return when so employed than it did before. Large enough, in the one instance, to reproduce the dividends presumably obtainable from the " foreign " funds ;" in the other, to provide the interest on the capital borrowed after paying all outgoings, in which the usual local taxation bore a share. Nor is the hardship these persons com- plained of confined to the improvements of agricultural land only. Had the landowner or the farmer instanced, employed their capital in effecting similar improvements upon dilapidated house property in any town, they would have found the local assessors there equally alive to any marked rise in the value of a manufactory, an office, or a shop. The practical consideration arising is, that the amount of local taxation should not be, as now, a local matter only ; but that it should be considered in its relation to imperial taxation as well. A particular and unlooked-for pressure of local taxation on one form of investment alone, such as an investment in agricultural improvements, would be a peculiarly objectionable impost. If the burden of taxation of any improvement of what is technically termed real property, whether that consists of lands or tenements, becomes, or is, so onerous as to amount to a real bar to* the improvement of that description of property, it is the duty of the Government to inquire into the matter, and to adjust the local taxation in such a manner as to prevent this from occurring. * From report of speech made by Sir M. Lopes, ill the debate on local taxation, House of Commons, 21st February, 1870. THK LOCAL TAXATION OF QfejBAT HUITAIN A\l> 1KKLAND. 49 Otherwise the general prosperity of the country, so far as it depends on such improvements, will receive a check which may be preju- dicial to it in the highest degree. It would be an evil day for the country should the small capitalist the owner of, say from 3,ooo/. to 5,oooZ. find that it answered his purpose better to keep his money in some foreign stock and content himself with drawing tliu dividends as they became due, and living on the proceeds, instead of investing the capital in some occupation which would offer the ordinary profits of trade, being deterred by the pressure of local taxation on the industrial occupations of the country. The abolition of exemptions of Government property would, in the existing state of matters, be clearly an act of justice. Every trade, every manufacture, has a tendency to attract labour to its vicinity, and, with the present habits of our working population, an increase of the poor rates is almost certain to follow such an aggre- gation of working men. Sanitary measures become also requisite, and considerable expense is thus entailed. There can be no equitable reason why a Government factory or dockyard should not be charged with local rates exactly in the same manner as a private concern of a similar nature. The same principle applies in some other cases. Some descriptions of property are only partially rateable, or assessed on so different a principle as amount to a practical exemption.* Thus, though "saleable underwoods" are rateable, plantations made for ornament or for shelter to game are only so when there is underwood which is felled periodically. Plantations are, how- ever, rateable for the herbage growing between the trees, generally at about is. per acre. Parks are rated according to the rent they will command, which may differ very much from the agricultural or other value. As an extreme case, Holland House and Park may be cited. The gross assessment is 1,400?.; and net, according to the ratio used for all in Kensington parish, 1,167?. This is for the house and park. About half the assessment may be put on the park of 1 50 acres. The remarks on Lord Sefton's unused land at Liverpool, No. 2956, Evidence Select Committee, Mr. H. C. Beloe, are curious. The right of shooting appears to be rateable if let separately from the land ;f but not rateable if retained in the owner's possession. J Such alterations would, however, only affect a few places. The same is to be said as to the assessment of mines. This would add only about six millions and a-half to the present rateable value of about 100 millions. But though these alterations would be only local in their influence, and no general * The details of the properties expressly liable are given in Appendix, No. I. f Vide Meyrick v. Battle Union, " Justice of the Peace," 30, p. 727. J J T ide Reg. v. Thurstone, 1 E. and E., 502 \ but Chief Justice Cocklmrn throws a doubt npon that decision in Meyrick v. Battle Union. E 50 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. effect can be looked for from such measures, it is desirable that such exemptions should cease. On the other hand, the owners of some descriptions of property, for instance tithes, complain that their property is over assessed in proportion to other property. The amount of the rent charge in each parish is accurately known, and on this amount the clergyman or titheholder is assessed. The assessment of the rest of the parish is generally made by farmers, the persons most concerned in keeping their own ratings low, and the amount of their payments to their landlords may not be a matter of equal notoriety with the tithe. The principles on which deductions are made from the gross value assessed appear to differ materially in the cases of the farmer and the parson, be he vicar or rector. For instance, until recently, a deduc- tion was allowed from the total value of the living, in cases where the exigencies of population and area obviously made the employ- ment of a curate in addition to the incumbent a necessity. This exemption has been recently annulled by a decision in the Court of Queen's Bench.* No deduction either is allowed for payments made by the incumbent to the " Queen Anne's Bounty Fund " in the cases where a living is mortgaged to the governors of that fund for the repairs or rebuilding of the parsonage house. These payments, however, certainly appear to come within the statutable deductions which are to be made from the gross, in order to arrive at the rate- able value, among which deductions the cost of repairs is par- ticularly specified. There appears to be ground for a belief that an inequality of assessment exists in these cases, and that atten- tion should be called to them whenever existing arrangements are revised. The incidence of local taxation on railways, gasworks, and waterworks appears extremely disproportionate to that on other industrial undertakings, which, while carrying on businesses on a large scale, have no " visible and local " connection with the land, except in regard to the houses or other premises which they may occupy. A bank, a discount company, or a brewery company, to take some familiar instances, may be carrying on their respective trades, employing large capitals, gaining large profits, but the per- centage which they pay to local taxation will be far smaller in proportion than that which is imposed on railways, and the other similar industrial associations named above. In the case of a bank- ing company, the rating is on the rental of the premises occupied, which rental probably is but a very small part of the expenses of carrying on the business. In the case of the railway, the gas- * Reg. v. Sherford, " Justice of the Peace/' 31, p. 436. The inconveniences arising from legislating on one part of the subject of rating alone, are shown in Appendix II. I UK LOCAL TAXATION OF QRBAT MMIAI.N AM> ll.'lll.AM). 51 works, or the waterworks, as the company is not only the owner but the occupier, a hypothetical tenancy is supposed to exist, and the net value, for the purpose of rating, is arrived at by deducting the expenses of working from the gross profit, and by then making certain further allowances for the maintenance of those portions of the materials employed (e.g., the permanent way of a railway) which are most liable to deterioration. A hypothetical valuation of a railway was given by Mr. Edward Ryde, in a paper read before the Institution of Surveyors, 28th November, 1870, and is subjoined here in a condensed form : Gross receipts of railway (say) 500,000 Deduct working expenses, maintenance of way, &c 250,000 250,000 Deduct occupiers' share, interest on capital, &c 125,000 125,000 Statutable deductions, renewal of way, &c 20,000 Kateable value 105,000 The result is, that the rating is based, to a great extent, on the profits earned by the concern ; while in the case of an ordinary industrial company, profits do not enter into the account. In the case of a farm, for instance, it is the rent, not the presumed profit of the farmer, which forms the basis of the rateable value. The legislature has, in some cases, recognised the principle that the incidence of local taxation on these companies is unduly severe. According to the Health of Towns Act, railways, canals, and waterworks are only assessed at one-fourth of their ordinary rate- able value for the rates levied under that Act. When canals were first introduced into this country, the legislature, contemplating the benefits which such undertakings would confer on the districts through which they passed, and considering that the ordinary methods of assessment did not apply to such concerns, sanctioned arrangements according to which the canal was rated, in respect of the land occupied, according to the value of the land adjacent, a method which seems to afford a very fair basis.* * " And be it further enacted, that the said company of proprietors of the said Worcester and Birmingham Canal shall, from time to time, be rated to all parlia- mentary and parochial taxes, rates, and assessments for, and in respect of the lands and hereditaments taken and used by the said company for the purposes of the said navigation; and all warehouses and other buildings erected, or to be erected thereon by the said company of proprietors by virtue of the said Act, and of this present Act, in the same proportions as other lands, grounds, and build- ings adjoining or lying near the said canal are, or shall be, rated." Canal Rating Clause, 38 Geo. Ill, cap. 31 ; see also 39 Geo. Ill, cap. 80, sec. 46, Stratford-upon- Avon Canal. E2 52 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. In 1864, when a considerable clearance of house property, especially in the metropolis, was contemplated for railway exten- sions, it was provided that, as a great extent of rateable property would be destroyed, the railway company causing such a demolition should be rateable to the same amount as the property destroyed was rated at, until the railway was completed. No similar arrange- ment, it should be mentioned, has been made in any other case where property has been taken for purposes of improvement. The principle acted on was, that the parishes should not lose by the construction of the railway. The natural inference would appear to be, that the parishes should not ultimately gain. Under these circumstances, and with so many analogous points in their favour, it is not to be wondered at that the companies, thus exposed to a disproportionate taxation in respect of the rates levied on the poor rate series, have on every possible opportunity made every effort in their power to obtain a reduction. Every point has been contested. The amount of litigation attending on these assessments has been enormous, and in the vast majority of cases the assessment is arrived at by means of a compromise, and not by any certain and well considered method. The late Mr. Justice Wightman, when delivering judgment in one case which came before him (that of the West Middlesex Waterworks Company), observed that the whole subject appeared to him to be involved in so much difficulty and uncertainty, that he could not but hope that the legislature might interfere or make some provision adapted to the rating of the property of such com- panies, which might declare the principle upon which such com- panies should be rated, and establish some uniform and practical mode of carrying that principle into effect. According to the method at present followed, the railway, the gas, or the water company is regarded as the occupier or owner of the extent of land improved by the industrial business carried on by the company. But if the basis adopted in rating canal property, as mentioned above, was not considered satisfactory, a fair method would appear to be to regard these companies as the owners of vast machines, either for the transport of passengers, or of water, or for the manu- facture and distribution of gas. The viaducts, the tunnels of a railway, the mains of a water or a gas company, are certainly, strictly speaking, stock in trade to those concerns. The existing method of assessment according to the profits of the business they carry on, in respect of the land they occupy, is in fact to tax stock in trade, which in all other cases in England is exempt from local taxation. A very remarkable instance of the severity of this taxa- tion is mentioned in the minutes of evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Valuations, &c., Land and THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 53 Assessments (Scotland) Bill, 1870. The instance referred to is that of a waterworks company, but it illustrates the method adopted with sufficient clearness. The main conduit of the Glasgow Waterworks Company from Loch Katrine running towards Glasgow, commences in the parish of Aberfoil and opens into another parish. It thus passes entirely underground, completely through the parish of Aberfoil, entirely out of sight, causing neither injury to, nor disturbance of, the soil. As stated, " you may go through the parish and never know that " the thing is there." Yet the value of this tunnel or aqueduct and piping, as ascertained under the existing law for the purposes of rating, is 4,82 2 /., that is to say, the company is rated on the basis of 4,822^. to the parish for this "beneficial occupation." It is not to be wondered at that " the parishes and counties through which " the line of water pipes passed, were very agreeably surprised " when they understood the large value which was put upon these " works."* Gasworks and railways are proceeded with exactly in the same way. The method followed in Scotland by Mr. Dods, the appointed Assessor, in assessing railways and canals is as follows : " I proceeded first to take the gross revenue of the " railway companies from all sources as a foundation, I then " deducted the working expenses, except the item for maintenance " of way. This brought out the net revenue. " I then ascertained the value of the plant and rolling stock " employed by the companies in realising these profits, and allowed "25 per cent, on that value, deducting which from the net revenue, " left the value to which the railway was subject for assessments. " This 25 per cent, embraced tenants' profits; some minor charges " were allowed for or apportioned." The result in the case of the Glasgow and South Western Rail- way is as follows : Year Ending Whit-Sunday, 1870. Total revenue 563,874 Expenditure (say) 192,422 Net revenue according to this method 3 7 1 ,45 2 Value of plant 633,970?. 25 per cent, on this 158,492 Other allowances 5>8i4 164,306 Value for assessments 207,146 Thus the line of railway is assessed on nearly two-fifths of its gross earnings. * Evidence of Mr. G. Dods, assessor of railways and canals in Scotland. 54 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The result is, that while the return on the total capital employed in the Caledonian, North British, Glasgow and South Western, Highland, and Great North of Scotland Railways is 4-02 per cent., the percentage of valuation to gross revenue is 27*97 per cent., and to net revenue 55*32.* The percentage of railway valuation to valuation of all other property is 10 per cent., while the percentage of acreage (20,148) of railways to acreage (20,030,017) of all other property only about one-tenth of I per cent.f This is the method of rating in Scotland, where " means and " substance," which would of course include stock in trade, are, in the case of such companies, included in the assessment. But, nevertheless, the incidence of the taxation on railways in England (including rates and Government duty), notwithstanding that " means and substance " are not ostensibly included in this country, is heavier than either in Scotland or Ireland. The figures for the year 1867 are given below from Slaughter's " Railway Intelligence " for 1869 : Rates and Government Duty. Per Cent, to Profit, England 1,165,295 6'o6 Scotland 114,402 T44 Ireland 51,051J 5'20 United Kingdom .... 1,330,748 6-71 No Government duty in Ireland rates only. It now becomes desirable to refer to those charges on local funds which have been thought rather to belong to the imperial budget. The grants by Government in aid of such charges have necessarily to be considered with them. As fresh requirements have arisen in various directions, such as for police, more efficient schoolmasters in workhouses, and some medical charges, the outlay has occasionally been so great that the property liable to assessment in the places concerned has appeared to be inadequate to meet the burden. Hence arose the necessity of some mode of bringing the imperial exchequer to aid, while endeavouring to avoid endangering the security for economy obtained by the local principle of making those pay who administer the expenditure ; and an arrangement for grants in aid has followed. These, as made at present, do not appear to have proceeded on * Appendix, No. III. Report from Select Committee on Valuation of Lands and Assessments (Scotland) Bill, 1870. f Appendix, No. II, ditto. THE LOCAL TAXATION OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IKKLANh. 55 any systematic principle. Like much modern legislation, they may have been based on the rough-and-ready method of the "rule of "thumb" rather than on any more exact arrangement. A more equitable division might be made by enacting that those expenses, in the administration of which local knowledge and the desire for local economy are of little or no avail, or in the incurring of which local requirements have little or no share, should be regarded as fit subjects to be separated from the local and placed on the impe- rial budget. The subject has not escaped the notice of Mr. Gladstone, who, speaking on local taxation on 21st February, 1870, in the House of Commons, remarked, " I am bound to say that it would be very " wise to arrive at a conclusion with respect to the present assis- " tance given from the imperial funds to local purposes ; to ascer- " tain whether it is too great or too small ; whether given in the " best manner, and whether or not it interferes with sound prin- " ciples of administration." The existing arrangement is open to great objections, with but few corresponding advantages. A grant made in aid of any branch of local expenditure, the police, for instance, requires a correspond- ing inspection, to ascertain that the purposes for which the grant was made have been fulfilled. This inspection, if slight, cannot be satisfactory ; if complete, involves a system of supervision which would suffice of itself, to the complete administration of everything concerned. To revise these assisted charges, and then to place the whole cost of those retained as of imperial concern on the consoli- dated fund, would probably result in a considerable economy from the remedial effects of a more systematic arrangement. The coun- try meanwhile would be spared the great and increasing evils of divided local jurisdiction. The police force certainly appears to need a more complete organisation, which could scarcely be effected without a more direct control from a central authority. "There are, exclusive of the police of the metropolis and the " city of London, something like 200 separate forces (in England " and Wales) acting quite independently, having each local interests " to serve, subject to distinct local authorities, and unaccustomed " to co-operate for the furtherance of any common object. It is " owing in a great measure to this cause that the supervision of " convicts in England under the Act of 1864 has not been more " efficient." Colonel James Fraser, Commissioner of Police, letter in the " Times," 13th March, 1869. It must be borne in mind that this needless subdivision involves, in an economic point of view, an unnecessary number of separate funds for providing superannuation allowances ; doubtless, also, an unnecessary number of superior officers for so many small detach- 56 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. ments ; with other expenses of stations, &c. ; and the waste in the cost of administration involved by so many separate jurisdictions in many ways. Nor is the confining the career of an efficient police officer of any grade to the narrow limits of a local force in any way desirable. If a really capable man, he is always on the look out for openings elsewhere ; while the system of appointment by the selec- tion of local authorities and testimonials has but little to recom- mend it. A brdader field, with the larger prizes naturally open in consequence, would be likely to secure the services of a better class of officer, while the chances of immunity now obtainable by the law- breaker among the differences of jurisdiction, would be curtailed or lost. In both cases economy would probably result. It is probable that a consolidation of these 200 forces of police would lead to other advantages in administration besides those mentioned by Colonel Fraser ; a more complete repression of crime, a more complete supervision of vagrants, to mention these points alone, would lead to considerable economical advantages. To continue this portion of the subject, as an illustration of the wide field still open for improve- ment, the vast and increasing number of tramps and vagrants may be referred to. The need of a careful and rigid dealing with this dangerous class of the population is most pressing, and has been made the subject of a special inquiry.* The numbers of tramps are very differently computed in different returns. This is alone suffi- cient to indicate the need of a uniform mode of dealing with such persons. The following extract from the Report of the Poor Law Board, 1869-70, shows the difference between returns of vagrants made by the police, and those of poor law guardians. With this statement may be compared the numbers noted in one county of England alone (Hampshire), amounting in 1869 to 26,479. The individuals of so wandering a class may doubtless be frequently counted over and over again in many differing localities ; but the difference in the numbers stated is too great to be accounted for by this explanation only. " Our attention has been drawn to the great discrepancy between " the number of vagrants, as shown by the returns prepared by the " clerks to the guardians, and summarised by us, and the numbers " given in the returns which have hitherto been issued by the " police. For instance, the number of vagrants known to the police " were : On 1st April, 1867 32,528 ' 68 36,179 " Whereas the poor law returns showed the number of vagrants * Tide, "Presented by command " [No. 14678], "Reports on Vagrancy, " made to the Poor Law Board by Poor La\i Inspectors, 1866." I'HK LOCAL TAXATION OF GKKAT HIMTAIN AND IRELAND. ?>7 " to be, on 1st January, 18G7, 5,027 ; and 6,129 on the same day in " 1868. " This great difference arises from the circumstance that the " guardians necessarily confine their return to those vagrants who " apply to them for relief, while the police authorities include all " persons known to them as vagrants and tramps, whether sleeping " in casual wards at the cost of the rates, or in lodgings at their " own expense. In fact the poor law returns only deal with pauper " vagrants, the police returns with all vagrants and tramps." " Twenty-second Annual Report of the Poor Law Board, 1869-70," pp. xxx and xxxi. The principles which apply to the regulation of the police apply with even more force to gaols. No reason can fairly be given for constituting any penalty inflicted by the Imperial Government a charge on local taxation. Does the fact that a rogue reared, say at Cardiff, is captured and convicted at York, render it a fair thing that the ratepayers of that locality should have to contribute at all to his maintenance, while he is expiating his offence in the castle or the city gaol. The offence was against the laws of the country ; should not the whole of the expense of the administration of those laws be borne by the country ? While on this portion of the subject, it is desirable to consider whether any good reason can be given for the maintenance of both a city and a county gaol in the same place, or for retaining a distinc- tion between local and imperial prisons. It may be added that a complete and uniform administration over the gaols of the country would probably not only lead to some considerable economy, but by strengthening the hands of authority, conduce to a more efficient repression of the criminal and vagrant classes. Though it is most desirable the administration of ordinary pauperism should rest with the locality concerned, a doubt arises whether the same reasons apply in the case of lunatics, or those incapacitated by some bodily defect from gaining a livelihood. Part of the reasons for keeping the management of the funds for the relief of the poor in the hands of those interested in the locality, is that their local knowledge may detect fraudulent imposi- tions on the poor fund, and in other similar ways promote economy. In neither direction can these reasons have as much force in the case of lunatics as of ordinary paupers. " The enforcement of a " regular test of destitution in all doubtful cases, and a system of " administration in the hands of the elected agents of the ratepayers " of a limited area," well said to be the strong points of the existing system, are of less avail in respect to these cases, which can also be scarcely properly attended to within the walls of the ordinary work- house without great additional expense, both in providing specially 58 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. trained attendants and suitable accommodation. The presence, too, of idiots or the " fatuous," in the Scotch sense, in the adult wards is highly objectionable. A large asylum, or, could a suitable oppor- tunity be found for it, arrangements for boarding out on the Belgian system, appear to present better opportunities for the management of such cases. Should a reconsideration of local charges take place, this portion of the subject might well be investigated. " It is clearly " an expense which stands on a different footing altogether from " the other items of poor law expenditure." " Twenty-second " Report of Poor Law Board." That any of the expenses attending the militia should be reckoned among charges to be defrayed by the county, can only be explained by remembrance of the historical position of that force. As a reconsideration of the whole question of national defence appears probable, it is sufficient to advert here to the fact that the expenses of the volunteer forces of the country (in some respects more " local " even than the militia) have been defrayed without hesitation from the consolidated fund. There can be no doubt that if the militia were of as recent an introduction as the volunteer force, all the expenses entailed by it would be defrayed from the same source, as the latter is. The payments on account of the Registration Act, the expenses connected with parliamentary registration and the cost of the jury lists, also appear to be distinctly expenses incurred for imperial, not for local purposes, and should be dealt with accordingly. X. Other Sources of Revenue than Rates. As other means of raising or contributing to a local revenue than the sums raised by rates are within the scope of this work, it is desirable to give some notice of them. Markets. The tolls to be raised from this source can never, or at least ought never, to be very high. If these tolls rise to such a scale that they augment the cost of the provisions sold, they amount in fact to an octroi duty, one of the most undesirable methods of raising a revenue that can be devised, from the inequality of the incidence. A tax on provisions falls most heavily on the lowest sections of the poorest classes, and is open to almost every objection which can be raised to a tax. Such taxes must, from their nature, be almost invariably opposed to Adam Smith's first canon of taxation, " that each person ought to contribute to the revenue in propor- " tion to his ability to pay." A tax on coals has the same disad- vantages with a tax on provisions, with the additional one that it is a direct tax on all manufactures within its limit as well. Such forms of taxation are fortunately so little known in this country that the opinion of a foreigner, and of a Frenchman, the inhabitant of THE LOCAL TAXATION OF ;UKAT I'.IMIAI.N AM> IliKLAM'. a country where octroi duties are of frequent occurrence, is the best to be cited : " Moiiis grand est le gateau et plus fortement le fisc le rogne. " C'est vrai encore et surtout de I'imp6t de consommation. Le fisc " ne tient presqu'aucun compte ni de la qualite ni du prix. Le " * petit bleu ' qui empoisonne le ma9on ' contribue ' autant que le " Chateau-Margau dont se delecte 1'entrepreneur ; ainsi pour la maree, " les viandes, les liqueurs. Personne n'ignore, de plus, que les " depenses sujettes a imposition prennent une part autrement large " sur le budget de la mansarde que sur le budget du premier etage. " A supposer, par exemple, que lesimpots et octrois sur les liquides, " les comestibles et les combustibles les rencherissent de vingt pour " cent., cette sur-depense de vingt pour cent, absorbera peut-etre le " cinquieme et au-dela du revenu de 1'ouvrier ; elle n'augmentera " pas d'un vingtieme la depense totale du fabricant." " Le Bilan de " 1'Empire," par M. J. E. Horn. 2ieme edition, p. 10. Tramways. A small fixed charge may fairly be laid on such under- takings. This may be considered as a rent for the use of the soil covered by the lines of way, and for the privilege of passage. It might either be levied as a rent, or as a percentage on the traffic. Taxes on locomotion should, however, never be sufficiently high as to interfere with its complete freedom, or in any way to impede the traffic. It is not probable that any large revenue, can, except in the largest cities of the empire, be raised from this source. A concession for a term of years, as in the case of our Indian and most foreign railways, offers obvious advantages for a fair adjustment of charges between a municipality and a company offering to make such lines. The "Tramways Act" of last session gave permission to "local " authorities " to construct such lines in any part of Great Britain, and likewise authorised the borrowing money for a period not exceeding thirty years for the carrying on of the works where the "local rate" is insufficient. With this object the Metropolitan Board of Works is authorised to borrow 300,000^. This sum, if raised, will be levied on " occupiers " alone, while experience shows that "owners" are the eventual gainers by the improvement in the value of property which increased facilities for locomotion tend to produce. Sewage Farms. "Sewage farms" have been indicated as pro- bable sources of income to local authorities. In some instances such undertakings have been already attempted. The scheme in use at Cheltenham is reported to be in profitable operation. In the existing state of the question little more can be said than that some of the projects seem to promise favorably. That a considerable source of profit exists is obvious ; as also that at present but little use has been made of it. The sciences of chemistry and engineering will 60 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. probably before long find a solution of the difficulties which hitherto have prevented success. Meanwhile, the following remarks by Mr. Corfield do not appear out of place here. (&.) That by careful and well-conducted sewage irrigation, especially with the application of small quantities per acre, the purification of the whole liquid refuse of a town is practically perfect, and has been ensured in cases where it was not at all the object of the agriculturist ; and that it is the only process known by which that purification can be effected on a large or small scale. (&.) That by it the value of land is enormously increased at least doubled in every instance. That perfectly worthless land, blowing sea-sand, for instance, can be made in this way to support large and valuable crops. (c.) That the quantity per acre obtained from all crops is enormously increased. (cZ.) That it reduces to a great extent, or entirely renders unnecessary, the usual amount of artificial manures of all kinds, by supplying a manure especially adapted, from its complex con- stitution, for the nourishment of crops, supplying it moreover in a state of solution ; that is to say, in the most readily absorbable condition, and supplying at the same time that most necessary aid vegetation, water, by which the value of the manure during the greater part of the year is almost doubled. (F GREAT BRITAIN AND JKKLANJ*. 71 county named. Col. 7 contains the total rating in the counties, with the towns included. It will be observed that the towns thus grouped are rated In^lin- tlian the "counties." Cornwall is an exception to this. In Cornwall several of the boroughs may be described as " geographical expressions," and the character both of the property and of the inhabitants within and without the electoral boundaries do not widely differ from each other. These details are arranged in Tables C and F according to the maximum amount levied in each case. There appears considerable doubt whether the amount of rates described as levied in the towns of the county of Lancaster can be safely relied on.* A local return, kindly supplied from Liverpool, shows results con- siderably different from those traceable in Return 497. Several of the rates included in this return do not appear named in the columns of the parliamentary return. A note is therefore marked against Liverpool and Lancaster, but the general totals have not been altered, as it does not seem certain that the particulars in the local return corresponds exactly with those in the return made to Parliament. Tables H, I, and K contain the position in 1868, as to all rates, of the towns in England returning members to parliament in the year 1862, with the exception of the metropolitan boroughs. These places have been selected as forming as fair a guide to the urban, distinguished from the rural population, as circumstances admit. The difficulties attendant on the drawing up these tables have been mentioned previously. Table H gives the total rate in the pound of all rates, for each place named. The poor rates are given in a similar manner in Table I. Table K subdivides the rates for local government and for purposes of improvement and health. The general results are as follows : Table H, the places named pay a total rate of 3$. life?, on the rateable value for all rates. The summary in Return 437 (1870), dividing the local taxes in 1868 between rural and town unions, states the total taxation of the town unions as 45. in the pound. The method followed in the return made by the Poor Law Board does not exactly correspond with that adopted in this paper, but the coincidence is so close as to show that the general results may be relied on. The same places average for poor rate is. 8 \d. in the pound, while other rates are *&\d. for local government, is. $\d. for improvement rates. England generally, as shown in Table A, averages is. 6\d. in the pound for poor relief, f * " Lancaster," appears to bear a rate of 55. 6d. in the pound on towns represented when thus amended. f The estimate in Mr. Goschen's report is is. 6d. 72 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. It is hence obvious that the poor's rate is less onerous in the towns than the other rates : though, as shown in Tables C and D, the towns are rated for all rates more heavily than the counties. Mr. Goschen's investigations show the same results. " Applying, therefore, the historical test geographically, the con- " elusion is, that purely agricultural counties are less heavily rated " than formerly, though, owing to their enormous hereditary poor " rates, many of them remain high in the list, while the manufac- " turing and metropolitan counties show greatly increased rates, " partly owing to increased expenditure for poor relief, but in great " part to the vast sums which have been spent on town improve- " ments. " An examination in more detail of the counties themselves *' confirms the principle here laid down in a remarkable degree. " The more urban the union in any county, the higher does the " rate per pound for all rates rise, as compared with the county " average. " In most counties it is almost sufficient to pick out the union " in which county towns and other towns are situated to find the " union where the highest rates prevail. There are some natural " exceptions, such as the fen districts, where heavy expenditure for " drainage purposes raises the rate ; but the following statement " shows the general result (all rates being taken into considera- " tion) : Average Rate for County. s. d. Berks Chester 2 Derby 2 Essex 3 Hertford 3 Huntingdon 4 Leicester Northampton 2 Northumberland 2 Nottingham 3 Oxford 3 Southampton 3 Worcester 2 Wilts ... * 3 4 2 9! 2 4 3 5 t 2 7* uf 85 Union of Highest Rate. s. Reading .................................... 4 Chester .................................... 5 Derby .................................... 3 Colchester ................................ 5 Hertford ................................ 3 Huntingdon ............................ 3 Leicester ................................ 4 Northampton ........................ 4 Newcastle ................................ 4 Nottingham ............................ 5 Oxford Southampton d. 9f 21 81 3f 41 3i 3 7 Worcester ................................ 4 Salisbury ................................ 7 6f 10 I'llK LOCAL TAXATION OF GKKAT IMMTAIN AM> !IM:i,AM>. " Other counties show the following result: Number of Unions. AviTilgC of County. Unions of Highest Rate. *. d. r Woburn s. d. 4 4 Bedford 6 3 6 J Luton 2 25 1 Bedford 3 7 f Plymouth fi 10 Devon 20 3 *H Stoke Damerell fi 4v 1 East Stonehouse Poole 5 - 4 10; Dorset 12 Blandford 3 Q v Bridport 3 Q V 01 f Sunderland 4 &$ Durham 15 1 8H I f Bristol 5 3 Gloucester 17 1 4- \ 1 Clifton .... 4 - r Greenwich fi 14 Dover 5 2i Woolwich 4 lOi Kent 29 Canterbury 4 8.V Gravesencl 4 fU Maidstone ... 4 *>1 ,, r Newport "1 Monmoutk 6 3 6H 3 7f L King's Lynn 7 2i Norfolk 23 Norwich 7 1 Yarmouth 7 - i f , r Wolverhampton 5 -i 2 8 \ Stoke-upon-Trent 4 8 c Rotherhithe 5 9J- Surrey . 21 A \ oK CUKAT I'.UITAIN AND IRELAND. 83 that the owner is also exempt for his rent if reserved in money or even in the wnm^lit or smelted produce of tin- mine; but that if the reservation be of a portion of the produce of the mine, be is rateable for that port ion. " 6th. ' Saleable Underwoods.' The effect of these words has been much disputed ; they are understood to include wood, of whatever nature, cut down periodically, and shooting again from the same stem to he again cut in like manner. The use of the word 'saleable' is understood to exclude such underwoods as are to supply the land with estovers and fuel, or serve for shelter to young wood, or for ornament or other purposes of the estate. " These words operate by construction to exempt, as before observed, all other kinds of wood and timber. Saleable underwoods were made liable to the tax, and other woods and timber exempted, probably in accordance with the rest of the policy of the Act of Elizabeth, which appears to have intruded in all cases to charge the occupiers of property, and to exempt the interests of the owners. Saleable underwoods were almost invariably farmed out, while wood and timber was reserved by the landowner. It seems to have been thought that the tax could be laid on the occupier without affecting the owner. Although this conclusion is not consistent with the more accurate views of modern times in relation to rent and taxation, a great variety of passages in the reports show that such a belief did prevail extensive, and for a long period subsequent to the passing of the statute of Elizabeth."" Report on Local Taxation (1843)," pp. 31 33. APPENDIX II. NOTE referring to the inconvenience of legislating on the poor's rate without taking into consideration all other local rates : " In considering these instances, it is right that it should be borne in mind that there is no other subject upon which the existing legislation is in fact so certain, or upon which Parliament and the public generally are so accurately informed, and so intelligibly and directly interested, as the present subject of taxation. In respect of most other rights conferred, and obligations imposed by the legislature, a certain latitude of enjoyment and of obedience is inevitable, and much of the effect of the law may safely be made to depend on the general sense which people have of their reciprocity of interest ; every person subject to an obligation at one moment, being equally entitled in his turn to the enjoyment of the right conferred, and to benefit by the obligations imposed on others for securing its enjoyment. In matters of taxation, the recognition of the burden of the obligation is always easy, but the perception of the reciprocal benefits to be enjoyed is less easy and less general. Precision of expression is universally felt to be necessary, when every man is to be compelled to make definite sacrifices, and submits to the law with reluctance. This precision of expression is also most easily attained, because the liabilities are dependent on simple circumstances, and are not subject to be modified or rendered intricate by complicate private arrangements, and are measured by arithmetical (that is, by easily definable) proportions ; the whole of the law is put into operation through the ministration of special function- aries, whose information, when new legislation is contemplated, is always officiously offered, or readily to be procured. No subject could therefore be selected, of which the matter is in so defined a form as the present, or so clearly expressed, and so little likely to afford examples of ignorance in Parliament of the existing state of the law at the time when they legislated. Nevertheless, even here, the instances are sufficiently numerous and striking to illustrate the prevailing fashion of legis- lation. a 2 84 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " Scarcely anything can be more material than the declaration of the persons or properties to be rendered liable to a tax. Yet there is hardly an instance in any modern act, where the intention has been to impose the tax on the basis of the poor's rate, in which the purpose has been legally or unambiguously effected, not because there is the smallest difficulty in effecting it, but merely because the draughtsman dispensed himself from looking at the statute of the 43 Eliz., and Parliament and the public had no ready moans of checking the draughtsman while the Bill was in progress. Thus the highway rates are made taxes on the property without apparently following the person. The same defect applies to the Lighting and Watching Act, 3 and 4 Wm. IV, cap. 90, sec. 9, with the addition of a positive confusion as to the persons liable, caused by the use in section 33 of the term ' owners and occupiers of land/ terms not reconcileable with those of the statute of Elizabeth. In other cases the error is reversed, and the property is left to be inferred, and the persons only fixed, and this often with gross inaccuracy; thus in the Militia Eate Act (43 Geo. Ill, cap. 90, sec. 42), the persons described as liable are the ' inhabitants of the parish, &c., according to the rate made for the relief of the poor/ the strict effect of which is to omit both the chief persons and chief property, subjects of the poor rate, namely, the occupiers of the real property and the tithe owners, and to charge only the persons liable to poor's rate in respect of stock-in-trade. The defects of the Act for the General Sewers Tax, in this respect, have been partly described above. The County Rate Acts, unlike the Militia Rate Act, refer to the ' occupiers of estates and property, and omit inhabitants as well as parsons and vicars (55 Geo. Ill, cap. 51, sec. 12) ; while, as regards the property to be rated, the confusion is extraordinary, being described for parishes where poor rates are made, by terms inapplicable to the property liable to poor's rate, while for extra-parochial places where no poor's rate is made, the liability of property is strictly identified with the liability to poor's rate. The same confusion is adoption, to the county rate for shire halls, to the rate for burying dead bodies, and apparently to the rate for lunatic asylums. Not to make the enumeration fatiguing, reference may at once be made to the proper titles ... to show that in this the most important provision in relation to every tax, the confusion is almost universal. " After the declaration of the liabilities of persons and property, one of the subjects about which Parliament would be most vigilant, would be the provision for remedies against an illegal tax, and against irregularities in its imposition. To take the most recent instances of legislation, the 3 and 4 Viet., cap. 88, sec. 8, assumes that a right of appeal is given against the police rate in places within the county, and affects to extend the same right of appeal to detached places; but no such appeal as the one assumed to exist does exist, and the appeal supposed to be conferred by reference is, therefore, a mere illusion. In the majority of cases no remedy at all is given against the tax, or it is given by some equally illusory reference, or is so imperfectly constructed as to be worse than nothing, in as far as it deludes people into litigation and its expenses, without affording them protection. It would be again quite tedious to repeat the instances. " Of still greater importance, however, is the subject of accountability of those who have the collection, custody, and distribution of a tax. Yet is this subject sometimes wholly forgotten, as in the workhouse building rate, the survey rate, the rate for gaol fees, the constables' rate, the militia rate, the burial-ground rate, the hundred rate. Sometimes the existence of the liability to account is left doubtful, as in the General Sewers' Tax Act. Sometimes it extends only to a part of the funds, or a part of the persons in respect of which it should be provided, as in the case with the Lighting and Watching Rate Acts, omitting overseers ; the Sewers' Rate Acts, omitting the commissioners ; the County Rate and Borough Rate Acts, omitting justices and borough councils, all through the series of rates imposable on the counties, hundreds and boroughs. " These instances, though a very small part of what the single subject of local taxation affords, and selected only from the most important heads of the subject, will be more than sufficient to show how entirely fortuitous our legislation is upon a subject in itself the most intelligible, and capable of most accurate definition. THE LOCAL TAXAl I , OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IKKI.AM;. 85 " It thus occurs that an accumulation of original and substitute provisions co-exist for the same purpose. The co-existence of the sewers rate, and of the general sewers tax is appamitly an instance of this; the co-existence, in the Tithe Commutation Acts, of two distinct sets of provisions for determining the boundaries of properties and parishes, the first of which ought to have been repealed, is another ; the co-existence of three discordant sets of provisions for the inspection of poor's rates is another ; the co-existence of an original appeal to quarter sessions, of an original appeal to special sessions, and of an appeal from thence to quarter sessions, is another ; the co-existence of three general accounts, and of a multitude of special and occasional accounts by overseers, is another ; the co-existence of two appruls to the same sessions against the accounts of overseers, is another ; not to mention multitudes of like instances applying to most of the other rates. Every such instance is at least a useless incumbrance to the statute book, and to every compilation ; and causes a perpetual embarrassment to the public, to functionaries, to courts of justice, and to Parliament itself. " One example of an insufficient repeal is presented by the abrogation of the liability to pay poor's rate in respect of personal property (Appendix A, Poor's Rate, par. 74). This liability is only by implication repealed in the case of some other rates, viz., the county rate, semlle in extra parochial places, par. 31, 70, 74 ; semble, and qu as before, par. 22, 71 ; the county rate for shire halls semble and qu, as before, par. 32, 62 ; the rate for burial for dead, semble and qu as before, par. 32, 62 ; the hundred rate where there is a county rate, subject to the same ques- tion as county rate, par. 32, 33, 62 ; where there is no county rate or similar fund, then as poor's rate, par. 30, 44; the borough rate, when paid out of poor's rate, par. 30, 66a, 68, 70 ; but qu, as above, when made as county rate, par. 32, 62, 66, 71 ; the borough watch rate, when paid out of poor's rate, par. 66. The liability is left in full force in others, viz., in the constables' rate, par. 30, 70, 74 ; the high- way rate, par. 30, 59, 74 ; the lighting and watching rate, par. 30, 59, 70 ; the militia rate, but qu, par. 30, 74. The church rate, par. 59 ; the burial ground rate (qu) ; in other cases it is doubtful whether the liability is repeated or still exists, viz., as to the gaol fees rate, par. 30, 71 ; the police rate, par. 32, 62 ; the borough rate, par. 30, 32 ; the borough watch rate, when not paid out of poor's rate, par. 66, 71." Note to " Report on Local Taxation, 1843," p. 3. APPENDIX III. COMPARATIVE taxation in the United Kingdom and in New York State. From the " Economist " newspaper, 1st June, 1867. " A recent number of the * New York Commercial Chronicle ' contains the following statement : " The Comptroller of this State has written a letter to the Chairman of Ways and Means Committee of the Assembly, showing that a State tax of over one per cent, will be required this year if the measures now before that body are adopted. It may not be uninteresting for the legislature, in connection with this letter, and while they are considering the propriety of so largely increasing our burdens, to examine the extent of the imposts of 1866, when the State rate was only about five mills per cent. The necessary data will be found in the following comparative aggregate of taxes State, county, and town levied in 1860 and 1866, prepared from the official reports : 86 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Aggregate Taxes Levied in New York State in Years 1860 and 1866. Tax. 1866. 1862. Increase. State tax $ 7 ?6o,ooo $ 4,376,000 $ 2,993,000 School tax 1,148,000 1,064,000 84,000 County ,, 22 3 I 6,OOO 10,738,000 11,578,000 Town o 7 2A.OOO 2,776,000 6,958,000 Equal to a levy per dollar! of valuation of / 40,567,000 25 cents 18,954,000 13 1 cents 21,613,000 12 cents " If anybody desires to know how much more the camel's hack will bear, the following comparison between ' tax -ridden Great Britain ' and our own State, will furnish food for reflection : Internal Taxes, 1866, of Great Britain and Ireland (Population 30,000,000). Excise 20,000,000 = 1 100,000,000 Stamps 9 550 000 4.7 7 ^O OOO Taxes 3 500 000 = I 7,500,000 Property tax 6,000,000 = 30,000,000 County and local 18,500,000 = 195,250,000 92,500,000 287,750,000 The following are the figures for New York State also in 1866 : Internal Taxes New York State (Population 4,000,000). United States internal 1 revenue J State taxes County and local i 7,369,000 33,200,000 49,000,000 40,569,000 (,569,000 " Giving as tbe proportionate results : $9'59 per head in Great Britain and Ireland. $22-75 New York State, " We must confess that we are somewhat startled by this result. We were aware and have often said that the taxation in the States was high, but we were not prepared to find that in New York State the assessment is more than double the rate paid in this country. Nor would the introduction of the customs' revenue at all lessen the disadvantageous nature, as regards New York, of the result as it stands. On the contrary, the American tariff is far more oppressive and more obstructive than with ourselves." Till' LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 87 APPENDIX IV. " Reform, or, if necessary, suppress vestries give property its proper influence take from justices all power to interfere in the concerns of the poor, and leave the rest to the self-interest of the parties. This system has been found to be completely successful in Scotland, and there is no room or ground for thinking that it would be less so in England. In Scotland the a flairs of the poor have been managed by the heritors (proprietors) and kirk sessions. The latter, to which the administrative details have always been confided, consist of the ministers and elders of the different parishes ; the elders uniformly almost comprising some of the leading proprietors and most respectable inhabitants. The decisions of the heritors and kirk sessions have not been interfered with by justices, nor even by sheriffs, and have been reviewable only by the Court of Session, which is very chary of interference. In consequence of this arrangement the most vigilant economy has prevailed in all that relates to the treatment of the poor ; and while real want has been very sparingly relieved, no encouragement has been afforded to sloth, imposture or misconduct. It is not owing to any superior discernment or ' hard heartedness ' on the part of the Scotch, but to the different mode in which relief has been administered, that the abuses so prevalent on one side the Tweed are unknown on the other. Hence, though the reason of the thing had not been sufficient to prove that the committing the administration of the poor laws to a properly constituted parochial body would suffice to eradicate every abuse, the example of Scotland should have been held as decisive." Note xxiv to " Smith's Wealth of Nations," p. 596, by J. S. McCulloch. APPENDIX V. " Twenty -first Report of Poor Law Board." " The Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867." " Metropolitan Common Poor Fund." " Circular Letter from the Poor Law Board to the Board of Guardians in the Metropolitan District." " POOR LAW BOAED, WHITEHALL, S.W., "llth April, 1868. " I am directed by the Poor Law Board to remind the guardians that by section 69 of The Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867,' it is provided, that certain expenses incurred after the 29th day of September, 1867, by the several unions and parishes within the metropolis for purposes connected "with the relief of the poor, shall be repaid out of a fund, called ' The Metropolitan Common Poor Fund/ to be raised by contributions to be assessed by the board upon those unions and parishes, according to the annual rateable value of the property therein comprised. " The expenses which are to be repaid are the following : " (1.) For the maintenance of lunatics in asylums, registered hospitals, and licensed houses, and of insane poor iu asylums under the Act, except such expenses as are chargeable on the county rate. " (2.) For the maintenance of patients in any asylum specially provided under the Act for patients suffering from fever or small-pox. " (3.) For all medicine and medical and surgical appliances supplied to the poor in receipt of relief by guardians under the Act, or any of the Poor Law Acts. 88 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " (4.) For the salaries of all officers employed by the guardians in and about the relief of the poor, by the managers of district schools under ' The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1844,' and by the managers of asylums under the Act, and also the salaries of the dispensers and other persons employed in dispensaries under the Act, provided the appointments of the officers have been sanctioned by the Poor Law Board. " (5.) For compensation to any medical officer of a workhouse affected by the determination or variation by the Poor Law Board of a contract respecting medical relief in the workhouse, or for compensation to any officer of a union or parish who may be deprived of his office by reason of the operation of the Act. " (6.) For fees of registration of births and deaths. " (7.) For fees for and other expenses of vaccination. " (8.) For maintenance of pauper children in district, separate, and licensed schools. " (9.) For relief of destitute persons certified by the auditor, and provision of temporary wards or other places of reception approved by the Poor Law Board, under the Metropolitan Houseless Poor Acts of 1864 and 1865. " H. FLEMING, Secretary." APPENDIX VI. EXTRACTS from the evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Local Taxation, 1870. Mates will fall on Occupier. " 538. I think that the rates will always be made to fall sooner or later upon the occupier." Mr. T. Taylor. Rates fall on Owner. " 774. The rates fall upon the owners of the property, according to my view/' Mr. H. A. Hunt. Rates. Owner would Clear Himself. " 1276. Could you state what difference you think it would make to the owner and the occupier if the tax was imposed on the one or the other ? I do not think it would be any pecuniary benefit whatever to the occupier. I believe that if the owner had to pay half the rate, he would be sure to recoup himself, whenever there was a rearrangement of the rent : in all probability he would make it safe in this way ; I believe the average rates are about 35. $.d. in the pound in England and Wales, and, if he were to pay half, which would be is. %d., in all probability he would say to the occupier, in order to make myself safe, I shall charge you zs." Mr. C. S. Read, M.P. Rates on Income Tax. " 1347. Which do you think would be the best mode of getting contributions from property to local rates ; to charge half the rates upon the income tax, or to charge half the rates on the owners of land ? To charge half the rates upon THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. SD income tax, most certainly, if general property was to contribute." Mr. C. S. Read, M.P. Permanent Improvement Paid ly Occupier. " 475. That which is most distinctly a permanent improvement, and which will last for generations, is still paid for by the occupiers at the time ? I suppose even with waterworks, the expenses of repairs and all things considered, the theory has been that those works do not really endure for more than a certain time." Mr. Tom Taylor. Sow the Owner Benefits. " 4029. Your evidence so far goes to the point of that which is spent in the improvement of the metropolis ; not money spent in the discharge of burdens such as the poor rate and others ? It is quite clear that in the one case the property of the owner is greatly improved in value by the expenditure for metropolitan improvements, but in the other case, in the expenditure for the relief of the poor, property is not improved." Sir J. Thwaites. Occupier Pays. " 4043. Do you assent to the view that it is fair to take the whole of the rates falling upon a house as paid by the occupier of that house ? I think, as a general answer, 1 believe that that is mainly so ; the occupier does pay the rates." " 4050. That is one of the grievances that I suggest this remedy for, namely, that they are seeking practically to cast the burden upon the occupier by covenants. Let us take any one of the large proprietors in this metropolis, the Duke of Bedford or the Marquis of Westminster, or any of the large proprietors. Supposing leases were granted for fifty years, twenty of which are expired, would anyone suppose that those lessees, at the time when those leases were granted, in which they covenanted to pay the sewers rate, for example, could have contemplated the expenditure, or the especial charge which has been cast on that rate of 30?. in the pound for main drainage purposes ? It is quite clear that it never entered into the consideration of A and B, contracting twenty years prior to that imposition by Parliament ; and this, therefore, is cast upon the occupier, and he has to pay it, notwithstanding the agreement into which he has entered." Sir J. Thwaites. Effect of Legislation on Rent. " 3211. Have you met with many complaints among the tenants of Wiltshire, and those that you have had most to do with, with regard to the increase of rates ? Yes, I may illustrate my own case particularly. I hold my farm upon a lease for sixteen years : the expenditure for rates, until the Union Chargeahility Act came into operation, was about 75^. a-year. I am the sole occupier of the parish, I should tell you, except the clergyman, who has a small portion, and the woods belonging to the landlord. The expenditure, as I have said, was about 75^., until the Union Chargeability Act came into operation, and it is now something like from 170?. a-year to i8oZ. I am paying rather more than root, a-year more than I contem- plated when I took my farm in 1858." Mr. E. P. Squarey. Increase of Rates falls on Occupier. " 3404. Who do you think has borne the increase in the local burthens, as far as your experience goes ? The increase, after the buildings are erected, necessarily conies out of the pocket of the occupier." " 3409. Assuming that the local taxation increased, yon say that either the occupier must pay you more rent or you would stop building ? Yes, or we must get the land at a cheaper rate." " 3410. Would not that last alternative be the most likely of the three ? My impression is the contrary, because aa the population increases the demand increases, and then that always increases the value of land." 90 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. " 3141. Would you say, without hesitation, in the case of house property, the occupier is more interested in the taxation than in the case of land ? Certainly, as a broad principle." Sir S. H. Waterlow. Principle of Division of Mates. " 2979. I think that if they carried out the principle which I sought to intro- duce into the Bill of 1867, namely, that half the rate should be levied from the owner and half on the occupier, it would have checked the propensity for extreme improvements." Mr. H. C. Beloe. Application of Principle of Division. " 3138. Can you tell the Committee anything about the drainage rates of Kent and Sussex ? No, I only refer to them to illustrate the principle which I would apply. In the drainage rates of Kent and Sussex, over the Romney Marshes and the levels of that district generally, and the estuaries which flow up into Kent and Sussex, the rule* usually is that the scots, as they are termed, that is to say, the cost of maintaining the banks, cleaning the ditches out, and seeing that the water- way is kept in proper order, are borne up to zs. 6d. per acre by the tenant, and any surplus beyond that is borne by the landlord." Mr. E. P. Squarey. Effect of Union Chargeability Act. " 3166. Who would have the power of throwing the greatest number of people upon the rates, the owner or the occupier ? the occupier is a much larger employer of labour than the owner, is he not ? Yes, but under the Union Chargeability Act I do not think that that feeling operates in the remotest degree with the employer of labour, or with the landowner/' Mr. E. P. Squarey. Occupier Pays the Rates. " 3375. You would therefore, I presume, not be able to admit that in those cases the rates are paid by the owners of the land ? Confining myself strictly to those properties as illustrations, I consider that the occupier undoubtedly pays the rates." Sir H. 8. Waterlow. Owners Endeavour to Avoid Sates. " 2739. In Reading, when there is a new street made, are the paving and J'ghting met out of the rate, or by the owners of the adjoining property? We have had some little difficulty about that ; we adapt it as best we can to the circum- stances ; but our principle is that, before we take to a new street for the purpose of paving, the owner should place it in a proper state and condition for a road : he avoids it if he can ; he tries to get it thrown on the public rates as soon as possible, and we have to watch him in that respect. Say that a man has got a piece of ground for building; he forms a street, and sells it off into lots of land for building houses, and then he will leave the road to take care of itself." Mr. Thomas Rogers. Half-surplus to Owner. " 3130. Do you think it would be a fair arrangement that the landlord should pay one-half of the rates, and the tenant pay the other half ? Yes, I think that one-half the increase beyond the average is an idea that strikes me as being the fairest way of meeting the difficulty." Mr. E. P. Squarey. Rates on Owner. " 2721. The rate ultimately falls on the owner ? Yes, it must in effect, no doubt : in that sense it would ; that is to say, the owner would certainly get so much less rent for a house." Mr. Thomas Rogers. nu: LOCAL TAXATION OK <;I;;:AT MIMTAIN A\I> n;i i,\\i>. ( . ( 1 APPENDIX VII. TAXATION in Holland : When the taxes which affect the industrial classes are increased, it would seem as if that increase must either immediately fall wholly on profits or wages, or partly on the one and partly on the other. But it generally or rather uniformly gives at the same time such a stimulus to industry and economy as seldom fails to counter- vail at least in part its depressing influence. And when it is not wholly counter- vailed in the way now stated, the pressure of the additional taxes, by affecting the condition of the labourers and adding new strength to the principle of moral restraint, assists in replacing them on their old footing. But whenever taxes become so very heavy that their influence cannot be defeated by increased economy and industry, it becomes most injurious. The oppressiveness of taxation was in truth the principal cause of the lowness of profits in the United Provinces during the last two centuries, and of the decline of their manufacturing and commercial prosperity. Notwithstanding the severe and laudable economy of her rulers, the vast expense incurred by the republic in her revolutionary struggle with Spain, and in her subsequent contests with France and England, led to the contraction of an immense public debt, the interest and other necessarj' charges ou which obliged her to lay heavy taxes on the most indispensable necessaries.* Among others, high duties were laid on foreign corn when imported, on flour and meal when ground at the mill, and on bread, when it came from the oven. Taxation affected all the sources of national wealth, and so oppressive did it ultimately become, that it was a common saying at Amsterdam, that every dish of fish brought to table was paid once to the fisherman and six times to the State ! Wages being necessarily raised so as to enable the labourers to subsist, the weight of these enormously heavy taxes fell principally on the capitalists, and profits being, in consequence, reduced below their level in other countries, the prosperity of Holland gradually declined, her capitalists choosing rather to transfer their stocks to the foreigner than to employ them at home. " L'augmentation successive des impots, que les paymens des interets et les remboursmens ont rendu indispensable, a detruit une grande partie de 1'industrie, a diminue le commerce, a dimiriue ou fort alt ere 1'etat florissant ou etoit autrefois la population, en reserrarit chez le peuple les moyens de subsistance/'f " Principles of Political Economy/' by J. R. McCulloch, pp. 470 and 471. * In 1579, at the Union of Utrecht, the interest of the public debt of the province of Holland amounted to only 117,000 florins; but so rapidly did it increase, that in 1655, during the administration of the famous John de Witt, the States were compelled to reduce the interest from 5 to 4 per cent., and yet, not- withstanding this reduction, it amounted in 1678 to 7,107,000 florins! See " Metelerkamp, Statistique de la Hollande," p. 203. f " Richesse de la Hollande," torn, ii, p. 179. This work is full of valuable information. The author (M. dc Luzac) mentions that the Hollanders had in 1778, about 1,500 millions of livres (62 millions sterling) in the public funds of France and England. See also, as to the taxation of Holland, a " Memoir on the Means of Amending and Redressing the Commerce of the Republic," drawn up from infor- mation communicated by the best informed merchants, and published by order of the Stadtholder, William IV, Prince of Orange, in 1751, This 'Memoir* was translated into English, and published in London in the same year. It has since been reprinted by Lord Overstone. 92 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. APPENDIX VIII. REPORT of Select Committee of the House of Commons on Local Taxation, 1870. The Select Committee appointed to inquire and report whether it is expedient that the Charges now locally imposed on the Occupiers of Rateable Property should be divided between the Owners and Occupiers, and what changes in the constitution of the Local Bodies now administer- ing rates should follow such division ; Have considered the matters to them referred, and have come to the following Resolutions, which they have agreed to report to the House : 1. That your Committee, without pledging themselves to the view that all rates should be dealt with in the same manner, are of opinion (a). That the existing system of local taxation, wmler which the exclusive charge of almost all rates leviable upon rateable property for current expenditure as well as for new objects and permanent works is placed by law upon the occupiers, while the owners are generally exempt from any direct or immediate contributions in respect of such rates, is contrary to sound policy. (5). That the evidence taken before your Committee shows that in many cases the burden of the rates, which are directly paid by the occupier, falls ultimately, either in part or wholly, upon the owner, who, nevertheless, has no share in their administration. (c). That in any reform in the existing system of local taxation it is expedient to adjust the system of rating in such a manner that both owners and occupiers may be brought to feel an immediate interest in the increase or decrease of local expen- diture, and in the administration of local affairs. (d). That it is expedient to make owners as well as occupiers directly liable for a certain proportion of the rates. (e). That, subject to equitable arrangements as regards existing contracts, the rates should be collected, as at present, from the occupier (except in the case of small tenements, for which the landlord can now by law be rated), power being 1 given to the occupier to deduct from his rent the proportion of the rates to which the owner may be made liable, and provision being made to render persons having superior or intermediate interests liable to proportionate deductions from the rents received by tbem, as in the case of the income tax, with a like prohibition against agreements in contravention of the law. 2. That your Committee have examined many witnesses, and received at their hands very conflicting opinions as regards the proportion in which the burden of rates at present falls relatively on owners and occupiers. 3. That in the event of any division of rates between the owner and occupier, it is essential that such alterations should be made in the constitution of the bodies administering the rates as would secure a direct representation of the owners, adequate to the immediate interest in local expenditure which they would thus have acquired. 4. That justices of the peace should no longer act ex-officio as members of any local board in which such direct representation of owners has been secured. 5. That the great variety of rates levied by different authorities, even in the same area, on different assessments, with different deductions, and by different collectors, has produced great confusion and expense ; and that in any change of the law as regards local taxation, uniformity and simplicity of assessment and collection, as well as of economy of management, ought to be secured as far a possible. 6. That the consolidation into one rate of all local rates collected within the THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GKEAT BKITAIN AND IRELAND. 93 sniuc area is a matter of great importance, and that your Committee concur in the Resolution of the Select Committee on Poor Rates Assessment, 1868, which recommended one consolidated iv.tr, vi/., " that a demand note should he left with each ratepayer on the rate licin^ made, stating the amount of the requisitions, the rate in the pound for each purpose, and the period for which the rate is made, the rateable value of the premises, the amount of the rate thereon, and of each payment of the instalments of the rates." 7. That whilst it is necessary to make provision for limiting as far as practicable the disturbance of existing contracts, it would be, on many grounds, undesirable, and almost impracticable, to extend the exemption of property held under leases from the operation of the proposed changes until the expiration of such leases. 8. That the exclusion of the owners of property held under long leases from the right of voting for local authorities, after the proposed changes had taken eflfect in respect of other property, would lead to much inconvenience and confusion, while on the other hand it would be inadmissible to allow them to vote unless they acquired an immediate interest in the rates. 9. That the difficulties of the case would be equitably met by exempting the owners of property held under lease from the proposed division of rates for a period of three years, and by providing that after the expiration of that time the occupiers of such property should be entitled, equally with all other occupiers, to deduct from the rent the proportionate part of the rates to which the owner may become liable, power being given to the owner at the same time to add to his rent a sum equivalent to the like proportionate part of the rates, calculated on the average annual amount of the rates paid by the occupier during the three years above referred to. 10. That by the terms of the reference to them your Committee were limited to the question of the division of the charges on rateable property between the owners and occupiers, and what changes in the constitution of local bodies adminis- tering rates should follow such division ; and they have consequently been precluded from entering upon the inquiry of the relations of local and imperial taxation, and the nature of the property liable to the same. 11. That your Committee are of opinion that the inquiry on which they have been engaged forms only one branch of the general question of local taxation, and that other considerations, besides those which have been submitted to their investi- gation, should be previously taken into account in any general measure giving eflfect to the above recommendations. 1)4 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. APPENDIX IX. TABLE A. Local Rates in England, 1868. [OOO's omitted from Cols. 1, 2, 3, and 4.] England (1868). 1 Poor's Rate. 2 County, Borough, Police Rates, &c. 3 Improve- ment, District, Sewers, Drainage Rates, &c. 4 Total of all Rates (Cols. 1,2, and 3). 5678 Rates in on Rateable Value. Poor's Rate (Col. 1). County Rates, &c. (Col. 2). Improve- ment Rates, &c. (Col. 3). All Rates. Bedford Berks 60, 100, 99, 89, !54> 104, 58, 92, 217, 9 2 , 138, 231, 185, 56, 86, 29, 304. 736, 95, 171, 1,105, 73, 233, 113, 121, 89, 84, ii, 76, 208, 225, 190, H9, 420, 206, 167, !7, 138, 95, 80, 87, 392, 35, 54, 49, 56, 100, 70, 33, 64, 119, 52, ?7, 101, 111, 41, 51, 21, 227, 753, 57, 168, 636, 35, 76, 74, 106, 87, 49, 8, 49, 110, 82, 99, 76, 224, 112, 201, 11, 73, 69, 88, 67, 344, 12, '9> 4, 57, 95, ii, 22, !9, 66, 10, 84, 49, 103, 8, 9, 39, 180, 339> 22, 9i' 1,116, 12, 45, *5 23, 36, J 5> 18, 3?> 86, 99, 2Ij 383, 83, 38, 2, 13, 35, 53, 35> 334 108, 173, 151, 201, 349, 185, 112, 175, 402, 154, 299, 381, 398, 106, 145, 89, 711, 1,828, 174, 431, 2,857, 120, 354, 202, 250, 212, 148, 20, 143, 351, 393, 388, 246, 1,027, 402, 406, 33, 224, 198, 221, 190, 1,069, s. d. i nf i ni 2 I i 8i i 3 i 9* i i 1 2f i 8f \ \ i 6f ' 4i i 9 f i 4i i 7i : t! I 2t i 6| 2 2 2 - i 8i i 3f ; if :4 1 i 2 2f I 3* 1 9 t I 9 ! i 3* 10 1 lit i 3* - ni i i i 3f s. d. 1 H 1 -f 1 -i 1 -i - 10 1 2f - 7i - 10 - nt l it - 8i - lOf - 11 1 -i 1 1 - llf 1 2i 1 4f - 10i 1 2i - lOf l -i - 84 1 1 1 2 1 3i 1 -i 1 -f - 84 - lOf - 9t - 84 - 11 - Hf 1 It 1 6f - 6f 1 -t - 114 1 -f - 9f l 24 *. d. - 4* - i i -f - 9i ^ 4* - 3i - 6t - 3 - 9 - 5i - ioi - 2i - 2i I 10 ~ "t ~ 7t" - 7t i 6t - 4i - 4f - at - 3i - 6 - 3f - 3i :A - 84 i 8 - 9* - 3* - it :J! ;?i s. d. 3 6 3 4t 3 2t 3 9^ 2 10i 3 24 2 1 2 4 3 2f 3 4t 2 84 3 5i 3 4 2 6f 3 1 4 2 3 8f *3 5 2 7t 3 -i 3 llf 3 6t 3 1 2 llf 2 8f 3 -f 3 1 2 44 2 -i 2 9i 3 10t 2 8 2 114 4 5t 4 - 3 If 1 64 3 24 2 8 2 7f 2 4 3 7f Bucks Cambridge Chester Cornwall Cumberland Derby Devon . Dorset Durham Essex . Gloucester Hereford Hertford Huntingdon Kent Lancaster Leicester Lincoln Middlesex Monmouth Norfolk Northampton Northumberland Nottingham Oxford Rutland Salop Somerset Southampton Stafford ., . Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwick We stmor eland .... Wilts Worcester York, East Eiding North West Avge. of all Engld. 7,375, 4,915, 3,734, 16,024, tl 2f fl 1 t- i of f3 2| i*. 6%d. 1*. -43*6, ,v. d. 1 6* s. d. - 10* s. d. 1 6f s. d. 3 "I 420, 304* zo6, 225, 100, 224, 227, 112, 82, 54, 383, 180, 83, 87, 19, 1,027, 711, 401, 393, 173, 4'6l5> 3,8i8, *'999' 2,035, 1,020, 1 10i i -i 1 U 4 - Kent Sussex Hants Berks in. S. MIDLAND. Herts M55, 699, 75 2 ' 2,705, 13,488, 86, 99, 84, H3, 29, 60, 89, 51, 49, 49, 73, 21, 35, 56, 9> 4' !5> i5 39, 13' 56, 145, 152, 148, 202, 89, 108, 201, 940, 949' 957, i'355' 425' 612, 1,064, 1 9* i -1 - 5-r 3 3i Bucks Oxon Northampton TTnnts Beds Cambridge iv. EASTERN. Essex 560, 334, i5i' 1,045, 6,302, 231, H9, 233, 101, 76, 76, 49' 21, 45' 381, 246, 354, 2,227, 1,663, 2,294, i m 9? 41 3 2 < Suffolk Norfolk Iv. SOUTH-WESTERN. Wilts 613, 253, n5. 981, 6,184, 138, 92, 217, 104, 208, 73, 52, 119, 70, 110, 13' 10, 66, n, 33, 224, 154, 402, 185, 351, i>405, 9^5' 2,482, 1,150, 2,534, 1 0i i - 3f 3 i Dorset Devon ^Cornwall Somerset I vi. W. MIDLAND. G-loucester fcereford fed 759, 424, 133' 1,316, 8,486, 185, 56, '/6, 190, 95 ? 167, 111, 41, 49, 99, 69, 201, 103, 8, 18, 99, 35. 37, 398, 106, i 43, 388, 198, 406, 2,384> 827, 1,418, 2,921, 1,472, 2,577, 1 3| - ii* - 6i 2 9i Worcester Warwick 769, 570, 300, 1,630, n,599 96 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE B. Local Rates in England, 1868Contd. [OOO's omitted from Cols. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.] 1 2 3 4 5 678 9 County, Improve- Total of Rate in on Rateable Value. Borough ment, all Districts. Poor's fiate. Police Rates, &c. District, Sewers, Drainage Rates, &c. Rates (Cols, i, 2, and 3). Rateable Value. Poor's Rate (Col. 1). County Rates, &c. (Col. 2). Improve- ment Rates, &c. (Col. 3). The Total of all Rates (Col. 4). vii. N. MIDLAND. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Leicester 95, 57, 22, 174, 1,322, Eutland 1 1, 8, 19, 1 60, Lincoln 171, 168, 9 1 , 431, 2,851, Notts 89, 87, 36, 212, 1,781, Derby Q2% 64, 19, 175 1. ^O< I Si i -t 5| 2 9* 458, 384, 168, | 1,011, 7,219, vin. N. -WESTERN. Cheshire I rfolk Hereford 2 8i 2 4! 62 54 Monmouth York, North 3 nt 3 I0a 73 70 Northamptn. Suffolk 2 lit 2 11* 72 72 Ejitland jjiester Varwick Vorcester ... fork, East ... * 3t III 2 3* 54 52 52 52 52 Worcester.... Dorset York, East Lincoln Bucks 3 9| 3 9t 3 yi 3 8t 3 6 5 70 68 68 67 64 Chester Somerset ... Northmbrlnd Worcester ... Durham 2 9* 2 9 2 8t 2 8t 2 8i 68 66 66 64 64 jeicester 2 3 52 )urham * 3 2 2t 52 Derby 3 6 64 Stafford 2 8 64 iottingham )erby Gloucester ... 2 2t 2 2i 2 it 52 50 50 Wilts Cumberland Lancaster* ? H 3 3 61 61 59 York, East... Leicester ... Hereford ... 2 7t 2 7t 2 6t 64 62 62 Oxford 3 it 56 Kutland 2 4 t 56 tafford 2 -4 46 lorthmbrlnd I Hi 44 Somerset .... 3 T.} 56 Derby 2 4 56 fork, North t lot 44 Cornwall .... 3 ~i 56 York, North 2 4 56 alop I IO 42 Salop 2 lOa' 52 Cumberland 2 I 50 '\imberland i 9t 42 West morlnd. 2 4 42 Salop 2 - V 50 \~estmorelnd i 5 33 Huntingdon 2 3 41 Westmorlnd. i 6i 36 The special Liverpool rates are not included in this return. 98 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE C contd. Incidence of County, Hundred, Borough, Police, Highway, Chut Lighting and Watching Rates (Col. 1), and of Improvement, General District, Comm sioners of Sewers, Drainage and Embankment Rates (Col. 2), for Counties in Englanc County. 1 Rate in of County, Borough, Police, &c., Rates. Maximum Rate = 100. Proportions thereof. County. 2 Rate in of Improvement, .District, &c., Rates. Maximum Rate = 100. Proportions thereof. Warwick s. d. i 6| 100 Huntingdon s. d. I IO 100 Lancaster i 4 f 89 Surrey i 8 91 Nottingham i 3 81 Middlesex i 6J- 84 Cornwall t I 2x 79 Cambridge i -f 58 Kent J 2| 76 Kent - ni 51 Lincoln ... I 2i 76 York - i of 49 Northumberland .... I 2 75 Gloucester - ioi 47 Bedford i ii 72 Southampton - ioi 47 Dorset i it 72 Sussex - 9f 44 Sussex i i| 72 Chester . . ox 42 Hertford i i 69 Durham Q 41 Northampton i i 69 Stafford 8i 38 York . i i 69 Lancaster 7* 35 Berks i -i 68 Lincoln H 34 Rutland i -f 68 Devon 6* 30 Bucks i -i 67 Nottingham - 6 27 Cambridge i -i 67 Worcester 7 Northumberland .... Salop : II 15 15 IO 4 Dorset } 14 ^Leicester . - ioi 55 KO Somerset 14 Derby 53 Suffolk - 3 14 Southampton Durham - 9* - 8i 51 44 Northampton Hereford Hertford - i* - 2* zi 11 10 10 Norfolk Salop - 8i - 8i 44 44 Wilts 2! 10 Stafford . 8i 44 9 Cumberland Westmoreland - 7i 6f 37 36 Westmoreland Bucks - ii _ i 7 neat 5 near TI1K LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT HIMTAIN AND IKKI.\\!>. 99 TABLE D. Ratio of Poor's Rate (18G8) to Population (1861), for Counties in England. f County. Rate per Head of Poor's Rates 1 1868) to Population of 1801. Maximum Rate = 100. Proportions thereof. County. per 1 lead ot Poor's Hates Population of iHil. Maximum Hate = 100. Proportions thereof. County. Rate per Head ot Pour's Rate* Population of IsC.l. Maximum Rate = 100. 'roportions thereof. s. d. S. d. s. d. Bucks Essex ii 9 if 5 100 97 Southmptn. Carnarvon 9 4 , 9 *-! 79 79 Cardigan .... 7 -i [ 60 \ nearly ^Sussex ii 4 96 Hereford .... 9 ii 77 Nrthumbrlnd 7 -i 60 Berks Wilt* ii 3f ii i* 96 94 Hntngdn. -I ncnrly } 77 Brecknock .... Salop 6 5* 6 ;* 55 53 Norfolk .... 11 12 10 9 91 Bedford .... 8 ni ' 76 Nottingham v 3 2 6 2 53 Anglesey.... 10 8f 91 Montgomry. 8 icfc 75 Worcester .... 6 2 53 Cambridge 10 ij 86 Suffolk 8 10 75 Chester 6 -| 52 Surrey IO I 86 Monmouth 8 4.* 71 Lancaster .... 6 -f 52 . Merioneth 10 - 85 Kent 59, 25, 224, 1,063, 80, 176, 8. d. 1 2* 1 3i 1 If 1 3$ 1 3i 1 3* 1 -f I 9 1 2f 1 3 1 8i 1 2i 1 7* 1 -f 1 3i 1 2i 1 2 1 11| 1 2* 1 2f Monmouth Norfolk Northampton Northumberland .... Nottingham 44, 148, 82, 122, 90, 64, 10, 88, H5, 131, 205, 103, 127, 203, i9> 89, 94, 101, H7, 439, *. d. 1 3i 1 3i 1 2f 1 3f 1 3* 1 3f 1 3i 1 3 1 If 1 3i 1 4f 1 3 1 3i 1 7 Hi 1 3i 1 3i 1 2f 1 9* 1 5f Berks . Bucks ' Cambridge Chester 1 Cornwall Oxford Rutland i Cumberland , Derby Devon Salop Somerset Southampton Stafford Dorset ''Durham Suffolk Gloucester Sussex \Varwick > Hertford Westmoreland Wilts 1 Huntingdon Kent Lancaster ^ Leicester Worcester York East North West Lincoln Note. This table is framed from Return f| of 1864, House of Commons. H '2 100 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE F. Incidence of Poor's Rate on Assessment to Property and Income Tax for Counties named. County. Rate in the of Poor's Rate, 1868, on Assessment for Income and Property Tax for Schedules A, B, and D, 1869-70. Maximum Rate = 100. Proportions thereof. County. Rate in the of Poor's Rate, 1868, on Rateahle Value. Maximum Rate = 100. Proportions thereto. trloucester s. d. - io 100 Southampton s. d. I 2f 100 Monmo u th - io| 100 Monmouth 2 2 97 Bucks idj 98 Essex 2 ii 94 Essex - ioi 98 Bucks 2 I 93 Southampton - ioi 98 Sussex 2 -f 92 Dorset Qi 90 Dorset 90 Berks - 9i 88 Norfolk 2 90 Norfolk - 9i 88 Bedford I llf 89 Sussex 9i 88 Wilts I ll 88 Wilts 9 86 Berks i ni 87 Bedford - 8f 83 Hertford I 9f 81 Cornwall 8| 81 S urrey \ I Qii 81 Devon 8i 79 Cornwall i T Qa 80 Northampton - 8i 79 Suffolk ya I ui 80 Suffolk - 8i 79 Devon ... i 8| 77 Oxford 8 76 Oxford i 8f 77 Kent 7f 74 Cambridge i 8i 76 Surrey 1\ 71 Northampton i 8i 76 Hereford 7i 69 Somerset . i ^f 74 Cambridge . . 7 67 Kent I 73T 72 Huntingdon 7 67 Grloucester i 64 70 Chester 6f 64 Middlesex i 64- 69 Leicester 6 62 .Leicester i <;! 64 Somerset 6i 60 Lancaster I Ai 62 Durham 6 57 i 42 T A.A 61 Northumberland .... - 5t 55 Huntingdon i 4i 61 Worcester - 5f 55 Rutland i It 59 Hertford - 5i 52 Northumberland i ? 58 Lincoln <9- 52 i ji 58 Nottingham Salop - 5* - ri- 52 52 Stafford \V"arwick 1 6^ i 3t i it 58 58 Stafford ;i 52 i ii 58 Westmoreland - 5* 50 Durham 1 52 I 3 56 Cumberland - 5* 50 Chester I 3 56 Lancaster - 4t 45 Derby 2f 55 Rutland - 4f 45 York I 2^ 55 Warwick - 4i 45 T 2 1 54 York - 4 | 40 49 Derby Middlesex - If - 3i 36 33 Salop Westmoreland I "I - 10 48 37 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IKKI.ANK 101 TAMLE G. Incidence of Property and Income Tax Levied on Rateable Value for Counties named, after Deducting Towns Represented in Parliament. Counties. 1 Ratio of Properly and Income Tax, Year ending 5th April, IM;:>, under Schedules A, H, D.andE, on Rateable Value for Counties named after Deducting Respective Proportions for Towns Represented in Parliament. Counties. 2 Amounts in Column 1 Arranged in Proportional Order. Bedford *. d. i if i at i if i a* i ii i 3 - ii i 9i I - i zf i 3* 1 Z I Z* I -i 1 3 i if : 3! i it i if ; u i if i -i - 1 1 I Z i 3* I Z i i I at i 3f i at i -i i it - 9f i if i i - nt i i i at Derby . . d. 9\ 1 3* 3 3 zf zf at at at ai at z z z if if if if f * 4 if ft it it it i -i -t i - n| - 1 1 - ii - 9f Berks Lancaster Bucks Stafford Cambridge Durham Chester Kutlanci Corn \vall Cornwall Cumberland Hertford Derby Monmouth Devon Cambridge Dorset Dorset Durliam Gloucester Berks Essex Gloucester Southampton Suffolk Hertford York, West Huntingdon Kent Essex Oxford Salop Bedford Bucks ]VTonmouth Huntingdon Lincoln . . Norfolk Norfolk Northumberland .... Northampton Wilts Oxford Kent "Rutland Leicester Silrm Chester Warwick Somerset Stafford Suffolk \Vorcester York, North Sussex Hereford Northumberland .... Sussex Warwick Westmoreland Wilts Devon \Vorcester York, East Cumberland Nottingham Westmoreland York East , North West 102 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE H. Incidence of ALL Rates on Places Represented in Parliament in England, 1868. Name of Place and County. Rate in the on each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rate in the on each Place Named. Bedfordshire Bedford *. d. 5 4 4 8| 4 9* 3 5* 3 4 3 *t 3 5f 3 7i 4 *i 4 3i 4 ioi 5 i 3 8 3 3 2 6f 3 *i 3 '! 3 ii 2 7i ^ 3f 3 if ; f* 3 6 Devonshire Ashburton s. d. 2 6f 3 ni 2 6| 5 6 , 4 zi 3 5* 6 10 2 8i 2 9i 2 8i 4 3 4 9* 3 9 s 5 ?l 3 5 2 2 3 ni ^ si 4 10 2 10 4 5i S i t 3 4i 4 3 t 4 -f 3 7i 4 -i 3 9i 4 2i 3 iol * if Berkshire Barnstaple Dartmouth Devonport Exeter (city) Honiton Heading Plymouth Wallingford "^"indsor Tavistock Tiverton Buckingham .A.ylesbury . . Totnes Dorsetshire Bridport Buckingham Chipping Wycombe .... Great Marlow Dorchester . Lyme Regis Cambridgeshire Cambridge Poole Shaftesbury Wareham Weymouth and Mel-~l combe Regis J Durham Durham (city) Chester Birkenhead Chester (city) Grateshead Macclesfield South Shields Stockport S underland Cornwall Bodmin JZssex Colchester . . . Helston Harwich Mai don Launce-ston Liskeard Penrhyn and Falmouth St. Ives Q-loucester Bristol (city) . . . Truro Cumberland Carlisle (city) Cheltenham Cirencester .. . G-loucester (city) Stroud Cockermouth Tewkesbury Hants AndovOT \Vhitehaven Derbyshire Derby THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND 1KKLAND. I") 1 , TABLE H. Incidence of ALL Rates on Places Represented Contd. Name of Place and County. Kaic iii the on each Place Nairn-it. Name of Place aud County. Rate in the on each Place Named. Hants contd. Lymington s. d. > loi Lincoln Boston s. d. 4. ?i Newport, Isle of~l Grantham 3 3* Wieht 2 3* Gl"t Grrimsby Petersfield 1 -} Lincoln (city) 1 4. Portsmouth 6 Q Stamford oi Southampton t Q* Winchester (city) 3 8* Monmouth Monmouth 4 4i Hereford Hereford (city) 4. 7i Newport-on-Usk 3 lit Usk 3 6f Leominster Hertford Hertford 3 A gi- Norfolk Kings Lynn 7 loi Norwich (city) 4 7i Thetford 3 if Huntingdon z 3 Kent Northampton Northampton e. i Canterbury ... 4 7f i I rt z 4t Dover 5 S* C ill Greenwich 3 J c: 7f Hvthe 3 it Maidstone 6 zi J\ort/iumberlana Rochester 4 at Berwick-on-Tweed z 6i Sandwich 4 5^ Lancaster Ashton-under-Lyne .... Blackburn 3 i i i ii JNewcastle-on-lyne .... Tynemouth and! North Shields J 4 " 3 7t Bolton 4 2f Nottingham Bury * *i z 104 East Retford i zl Clitheroe z if Newark . ... 4. Ili Lancaster Z IO Nottingham 4 115 c 7i Liverpool z ii Manchester (city) Oldham 4 -i 4. 1* Preston *5 8i Rochdale 5 4 7 2^ A I^ Salford t Z Oxford 4 IJ 3 2X Warrington 4 9* Woodstock 3 2 * z zi \Visran 6 i Leicester Leicester 4 4 Salop Bridgnorth 2 8f 104 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE H. Incidence of ALL Rates on Places Represented Contd. Name of Place and County. Rate in the on each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rate in the on each Place Named. Salop contd. I/udlow s. d. Z 11 3 3i z zi \ 3 z ni z 8i Z 10 z -t * Ii z 8| 4 ui i lof 3 i 4 7 ^ '! 4 7f 3 105 5 lit 5 61 4 2i 3 * 3 \ 4 ni 4 Si 2 ii 4 ~i . 4 4 ii 4 -t Westm or eland Kendal s. d. z 4 3 5 ! 3 5t z 8i 4 ^ z 8i 6 ioi 3 if 3 9* 4 ~ 3 6| ^ 4* 3 6J 4 if 4 4i 4 6 3 4t z - i ii 4 6* i 7t 4 5t 4 6i 3 5* 3 9* 4 n| 4 ii 4 7 3 3 5 9i 4 6i I 10 4 5 4 i Shrewsbury Wilts Calne . . .. Wenlock Somerset Bath Chippcnham Bridgwater Frome Taunton Wells Westbury Stafford Lichfield Wilton Marlborough Worcester Bewdley Newcastle-under-Lyne Stafford Stoke-on-Trent Tamworth Walsall Droitwich Dudley Evesham Wolverhampton Suffolk Bury St. Edmunds .... Eye Kidderminster W orcester York, North Riding Malton Surrey H-rnlrlfnWI North Allerton Richmond Scarborough Thirsk Whitby Sussex Arundel York York, East Riding Beverley Brighton Chichester Hastings Kingston-on-Hull York, West Riding Horsham Lewes Midhurst New Shoreham Halifax Eye TTn (\ (\ pr fi pi rl Warwick Birmingham Coventry Knaresborough Leeds Pontefract Ripon Sheffield Wakefield Warwick . Average of all places named, 3*. nfd. TIIK LOCAL TAXATION OK OR1AX BRITAIfl AND IRELAND. 105 TABLE I. Incidence of Poor's Rates on Places Represented in Parliament Name of Place and County. Rate in the of the Poor's Rate Oil till- Rateable Value for each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rate in the of the Poor's Rate on tin- Rateable Value for each Place Named. Bedfo rdshi re Bedford s. d. I 9J Devonshire Contd. Dartmouth s. d. \ \ Devonport . 2 ^ Exeter (city) i 8J Berks Honiton 2 2 Abingdon ... I I of Plymouth . . 7 6} Kcadiiif I II Tavistock i ioi Wallingford 2 5 Lincoln I 2% "Windsor i 8fc Totnes . i 6i Buckingham Aylesbury 2 3* Dorsetshire Bridport 2 if Buckingham 2 -f D or die st er I 1 li Chipping Norton .... 2 7t Lyme Regis. . . 2 li Great Marlow 2 5* Poole 2 l Shaftesbury i ioi Wareham i 8i Cambridgeshire Cambridge 2 l Weymouth and"! 2 - Chester Birkenhead i 8f Durham Chester (city) 2 2i Durham (city) G-ateshead 1 i 81 Macclesfield i 7 South Shields i 8 Stockport i -t Cornwall Bodmin ... i 8 Essex Helston 2 4. Colchester 3 2f Harwich i 9 T Try?. Maldon i 6* Penrhyn and Fal-~l mouth j I IO 4 I I I St. Ives Truro i 3j i Gloucester Bristol (city) I 1 5* Cheltenham i 8| Cumberland Carlisle (city) Cirencester Gloucester (city) .... Stroud - nt 2 tf 1 5 T ri Tewkesbury .... i 8i Whiteharen Derbyshire 1 15 i 3* Hants Andover 2 ii Derby ... i H i i^ Lymington 2 IO^ Devonshire Ashburton i ii Newport, Isle of 1 Wight J Petersfield I 2 2 2$ Barnstaple i 6i 1 Ili 3 ** 106 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE I. Incidence of Poor's Rates on Places Represented Contd. Name of Place and County. Rate in the of the Poor's Rate on the Rateable Value for each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rate in the of the Poor's Rate on the Rateable Value for eacli Place Named. Hants Contd. *. d. Lincoln Boston *. d. 2 ii Winchester (city) .... 2 i Grantham Great Grimsby Lincoln (city) i 4i - iit i ai Stamford i 8 Hereford Hereford (city) Leominster Hertford i i I Z* Monmouth Monmouth Newport-on-TJsk .... Usk! z -i a -i 2 ii Hertford 2, 6 Huntingdon Huntingdon i 5t Norfolk- Great Yarmouth .... King's Lynn 4 9 , <; it Norwich (city) Thetford * 3 if i si Kent Canterbury (city) .... i iif i 6t Dover i ni 2 -i Northampton i 2! Northampton I Ili 2, r 1 Peterborough Kochester (city) 5| 2 2f i 9 Lancaster Northumberland Berwick-on-T weed. . . . JVJorpeth i 5| i ii Ashton-under-Lyne Blackburn I 2 1 Newcastle-on-Tyne 2 3i Bolton 6* Tynemouth andT 1 t Bury ii North Shields..../ Clitheroe.... 9* Liverpool 5i Manchester (city) ... Oldham 7* 72 Nottingham East Retford i 6i si i if < 1 Salford iof "Warrington "w \ pan 6 - 6| Oxford Banbury i 9* Oxford i ii^ Leicester 2 2* Woodstock i 4^ Till. LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 107 TABLE I. Incidence of Poor's Rate on Places Represented Contd. Name of Place aud County. Rate in the of the Poor's Kate on tin- Rateable Value for each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rate in the of the Poor's Kate on the Rateable Value for each Place Named. Salop *. d. i -i Westmoreland Kendal . . . *. d. Q I/udlow i zf Shrewsbury i Wenlock .. . i 6i Wilts Calne z 4 Chippenham i lof Somerset Cricklade i 6i Bath I Z T tni Bridgwater i 3i I I OJ Frome i 9i 1 9 Salisbury z 8| Taunton i 6 Westbury z zi Wells i 6 Wilton z 3 Stafford Lichfield (city) Newcastle - under - "1 Lvne - 9 Marlborough Worcester Bewdley i ^ 3* z -4 Stafford i -f Droitwich Stoke-on-Trent z 3i Dudley i ii Tarn worth i 3$. E veshani I Z^ Walsall i 7 Kidderminster z zf "Wolverhampton i ui Worcester . I IO Suffolk Bury St. Edmunds... Eve ... Z II Z Z4 York, North Riding Malton Ipswich 2 5* North Allerton - ioi Scarborough - ,U Surrey Thirsk - 9* G-uildford z 4i Whitby 2 3f Eeigate I York Sussex Arundel 4 2 * York, East Riding Beverley - 8i Brighton z 6 Chichester z 6i Kingston-on-Hull ... i zi Hastings I Z Horsham T l IJewes York, West Riding Midhurst z 8^ Bradford i -i Halifax i ii New Shoreham ~ 9a Huddersfield I J^ Eve z 7i Knaresborough Leeds i ui Warwick Pontefract z ii B i r m i n gh fvn i <* Eipon ii Coventry . . i ill Sheffield I IO Warwick i 4 Wakefield i 5f Note. Average of all places named, is. 108 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE K. Incidence of County, Hundred, Borough and Police, and of Highway, Distri Improvement, &c., Rates on Places Represented in Parliament in England, 1868. Name of Place and County. Rates in the for each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rates in the for each Place Named. County, Hundred, Borough, and Police Rates on the Rateable Value. Highway, District, Improve- ment, Sewers Rates, Bee. County, Hundred, Borough, and Police Rates on the Rateable Value. Highway, District, Improve- ment, Sewers Rate kc. Bedfordshire Bedford *. d. i -1 - z* - n| - 6 i 3l <; - 7i - 7f - 5i 1 2* ; u - 8| - iot - 4t - 61 - 1 - 4 - 8f 4l - *\ - ai - 4l - 7 - 5 s. d. 2 5| 2 9| 1 11 - 8| 1 81 - 8* - 8| 2 11 1 If 11 3 If 1 7f 1 4 1 71 - 51 1 li - 11 - 10 1 3 - IH - 5 1 6| 1 71 2 2f 1 41 Devonshire Ashburton s. d. - s - 4* - ii - 9f - 6| i - - 3l - 8| - 5* - 71 : 8 - iof : g 7 - 3l - S - 6| - io| - iol - 9* - 3* i 6 : 3 - 4 - 6f s. d. 111 1 4f 7 6* 2 6| \ 1 7i - 8f 2 31 - 6| - 9 - 8* 1 61 3 3 - lOf 1 7f 1 1 - 2i - 3 1 - 1 9f - 11 2 21 1 41 1 10 - 9| 1 5| 2 -i 1 If 2 4 - IH 2 21 1 3 Berks Abingdon Barnstaple Dartmouth Devonport . Exeter (city) Honiton Reading Wallingford Windsor Buckingham Aylesbury .. Plymouth Tavistock Tiverton Totnes Dorsetshire Bridport Buckingham Chipping Wycombe.... Great Marlow Dorchester Cambridgeshire Cambridge Lyme Regis Poole Shaftesbury Wareham Chester Birkenhead Weymouth and"! Melcombe Regis / Durham Durham (city) Chester (city) Macclesfield Stockport Grateshead Cornwall Bodmin South Shields Sunderland Essex Colchester . Helston Launceston I/iskeard Harwich Penrhyn and FalO mouth J gt Ives . Maldon Gloucester Bristol (city) Truro Cumberland Carlisle (city) Cheltenham Cirencester Gloucester (city) Stroud Tewkesbury Derbyshire Derby Hants Andover Til!-: l.ni'AL I \\ATION OF (Jl.KAT HI.'II'AIN AM' IIMILAM". LBLE K. Incidence of County, Borouyh, t&?., Rates on Places Represented in r. ' Manchester (city) Oldham Preston Nottingham^ ^ \ ^ ' f \Q J Oxford >^O/T> Banbury .'.?.^r^. , Rochdale L Salford r j "NVarrington PlWigan Oxford \Voodstock 110 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE K. Incidence of County r , Borough, &c., Rates on Places Represented in Parliamei Contd. Name of Place and County. Rates in the for each Place Named. Name of Place and County. Rates in the for each Place Named. County, Hundred, Borough, and Police Rates, on the Rateable Value. Highway, District, Improve- ment, Sewers Rate, fee. County, Hundred, Borough, and Police Rates, on the Rateable Value. Highway, District, Improve- ment, Sewers Rates. & , j Salop Bridgnorth Ludlow S. d. - it : ft - 9* - 5* : g - 8* - 7i i ii 4 - 7* - 6* - 10* - si : g - 8* - 7* ill - 5* - 6* - 9* - 6f - 4f - 7l i -* - 9* 7 5. rf. 2 i* 1 If 1 10* - 5i 1 5f - 4 - 10 1 1 1 2f - 8f 1 4 - 8 - 4* 1 3 J- 4 1 -f 1 10 - 8i 1 7i 1 4 1 6* 1 5f 2 2* - 4f 1 7 - 9 - 10 - 4 - 71 1 6i 2 H 2 2 Westmoreland Kendal *. d. - 3* - 4 4 - 7f - 4 i i ii - 3* - ni - 3* - . 113 TABLE M contd. Annual Value of Various Descriptions of Real Property in England and Wales in Financial Tear 1814-15, Compared with 1848. Schedule A of Property Tax. Description of Real Property Assessed. Year 1814-15. Year 1848-49. Annual Value of Property Described. Ratio Borne by each Description to the Total. Annual Value. Annual Value of Property Described. Ratio Borne by each Description to the Total. Annual Value. 1. Lands 34,330,000 14,895,000 4,270,000 Per cnt. 64*2 z 7 '8 8'o 42,348,000 38,822,000 13,368,000 Per cnt. 44-8 41-1 14-1 2. Messuages, inclu-"] ding houses, 1 shops, and ware- [ houses J 3. Sundries, inclu-1 ding tithes J Total 53,495,000 lOO'O 94,538,000 lOO'O Note. From Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xx, p. 271 (Mr. F. Hendriks). Amount and Ratio of Gross Assessment in 1864-65 of Lands and Other Real Property under Schedule A in England and Wales. '- Description of Real Property Assessed. Annual Value of Property Described. Ratio Borne. Lands including tithe "1 rent charge J 46,403,437 Per cnt. 35'3 Other descriptions 84,938,062 60 Total 131,341,499 100*0 From Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xxxii, p. 314 (Mr. F. Purdy). 114 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GEEAT BRITAIN AND IEELAND. TABLE J^. Amount of County Rate, <&c., and of the Various Receipts in England and Wales, according to the Accounts of the County Treasurers for the Years stated below. [OOO's omitted.] Receipts, Years ending Michaelmas. County and Police Rates. Allowance from Treasury. Other Receipts. Total. Amount of Debt, &c. ENGLAND. 1856 95O, 236, 218, 1,593, 1,726, '57 1,089, 210, 297, 1,797, 1,883, '58 . I.I2C, 208, 222, 1,907, 2,080, '59 I.OQ2, 206, AOO, 1,903, 2,316, '60 1,139, 242, JIO, 1,905, 2,297, 1861 l,l2, 221, 32O, 1,927, 2,332, '62 I 22. ? 224, 262, 1,914, 2,2,7.4, '63.... 1,231, 316, ii7, 2,070, 2,299, '64 ... . I 22 3 309, 280, 2,110, 2,320, '65 I,1QQ, 328, 206, 2,102, 2,281, 1866 1,2^7, 312, 722, 2,521, 2,280, '67 1,24?, 308, 40?, 2,372, 2,380, WALES. 1856 (TO, 13, 22. 108, 7o, '57 68, 14, 42 138, o<, '58 86, 9 20 140, IO7 '59 fit 13, ^8, 135, 128, '60 . 84.. 18, 2O, 132, I 2.4 1861 82, 16, 121, 126, '62 go, 15 131, 1 16. '63 2. 18 16 148. 14*! '64 82 17 140 '65 21 149 108 1866 IOI 17 1 7 149 '67 IO<, 21 21. 162 2O4 From the " Miscellaneous Statistics of the United Kingdom," parts ii vii. Note. These returns commence with part ii of the " Miscellaneous ' Statistics," dated 1859. THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 115 TABLE O. Rates of Agricultural Wages in the beneath named Counties of England in the Quarter ending Michaelmas, 1860. Districts and Counties. Rates of Wages for Men, Quarter ended Michaelmas. 1860. Districts and Counties. Rates of Wages for Men, Quarter ended Michaelmas. 1860. South-Eastern S urrey S. d. S. d. 12 to 14. - West Midland s. d. s. d. Kent 88, i < ITercfoTcl sliiro Sussex I I 12 Southampton ii - 15 6 Stafford 15 Berkshire 9 j _ W orcestershire South Midland TTprts Warwickshire North Midland Leicestershire * * 10 6 12 - to 1 5 - Rutland Iz _ Northamptonshire .... II - tO 12 - Lincoln n 6 Huntingdonshire .... Cambridge 10 - II - IO Nottinghamshire .... 13 6 - Derbyshire 12 Eastern North-Western^- Cheshire II to 12 Essex I O to 12 ~ Lancashire T i _ l8 Suffolk 9 i 6 in Norfolk IO ,, II South- Western Wilts O to IO Yorkshire West Riding North No rthern 13 6 to i 6 - 1 4 ~ > 15 - Dorset O ,, IO Durham 12 6 to i *> Devonshire - 8 ,, 12 Northumberland i < Cornwall IO ;> 12 Cumberland i % Somerset .. 9 ,< 10 6 \Vestmoreland 12 .. l8 Note. The above are all the English counties and divisions specified in the table whence these rates are extracted. From the " Miscellaneous Statistics of " the United Kingdom," part iii, pp. 271 73. i2 116 THE LOCAL TAXATION OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE P. The Highest Amount, and the Last Amount , Levied in Respect of these Four Hates, the Present Valuation of Real Property in respect of which they are Imposed, and the Proportion of the Rates in the j, are respectively as follows. Rate. HIGHEST Amount Returned. Year. Levied. Expended. Poor's rate 1818 '42 '11-13 "1 Average 3 years J 1832 9,320,000 1,407,200 663,814 7,870,801 1,230,718* 1,407,200! 645,883 County , Highway rate -I Church Rate. LATEST Amount Returned. Annual Value of Real Property, 1841. Rate in the by Last Return. Year. Levied. Expended. Levy. Expen- diture. Poor's rate 1842 '42 '39 '39 6,552,890 1,169,891J 506,812 5,481,053 1,230,718* 1,169,891 480,662 62,540,030 s. d. 2 ii - 4* - 2 s. d. 1 9 ij County , Highway rate Church Total 8,229,593 8,362,324 2 1\ 2 8 * Amount paid to the county treasurer out of the poor's rate. f Includes estimated expenditure of statute labour. J There is no return of the amount levied for highway rates, but of course it is not less than the amount expended, which is the sum inserted here. Note. Estimate of local taxation in G-reat Britain and Ireland in the years 1811, 1813, 1818, 1832, 1839, 1842. " Eeport of Poor Law Commissioners," 1843. If to the above amount were added the sums applied by local authorities to local purposes, but raised under a system of taxation different from that which is adverted to in this report, such as the turnpike tolls, the various navigation and port and harbour dues, and the fees paid in the local administration of justice, and in the performance by various local officers of administrative duties, the sums annually disposed of by local authorities in England and "Wales would appear much more con- siderable, and certainly could not be much short of twelve millions of pounds sterling. If again to this were added the amounts raised and disposed of in a similar manner in Scotland and Ireland, the amount would undoubtedly exceed that at the disposal of some of the more impor- tant Sovereign States of Europe, for all the purposes both of general and local government. THE LOCAL TAXATION OP GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 11 7 TABLE Q. Local Taxation of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1858-f>:>. The following return, " Showing the Amount Annually Collected by " Rates, Tolls, and Dues in England ami Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, so " far as the same can be ascertained from existing returns," is obtained from Parl. Paper 204, 1860. The amounts marked * have not been ascer- tained. I. ENGLAND AND WALES. Poor's rate (with which are collected county police! and borough rates), 1858 J Church rate (average of seven years) 263,710 (Additional voluntary contributions, 269, 550^.) Highway rate (including paving, &c., under local 1 Acts) 1857 J I >949>37 Metropolis Local Management Act Kates levied by general board 159,886 * the parishes and district boards.... *Local Government Act and Boards of Health (in "I addition to highways) J *Sewers rates, under 3 and 4 Wm. IV, cap. 22 *Local Drainage Acts, Bedford Level, Norfolk, Lin- "I coin, &c J *Lighting, &c., Act, 3 and 4 Wm. IV, cap. 90 Turnpike tolls, 1856 1,051,050 *Bridge tolls *Ferries *Market tolls and dues *Port dues England and Wales (so far as ascertained), total.... 1 1,613,363 II. SCOTLAND. By parochial boards (from returns obtained from the Board of Supervision) Under Poor Law Act 622,100 Burial Grounds Act I 5 8i9 Lands Valuation Act 2,704. Registration Act, births, mar- \ riages, and deaths J >2j * Nuisances Removal Act 1,462 638,325 By counties and burghs (from returns ob- tained from the Lord Advocate) Eogue money 16,122 Police force, lighting, and cleansing 214,925 Prison assessments 32,241 Roads assessments and paving rates 100,314 Lands Valuation Act 7,66i Registration of births, &c 6,545 voters 3,141 Nuisances Removal Act 726 Annuity tax (clergy) 155017 Militia stores 12,305 General municipal expenses 28,291 437,288 Turnpike tolls (from Home Office Returns) 209,867 ^Statute labour roads Scotland (so far as ascertained), total 1,285,480 118 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE Q. Local Taxation of England and Wales, &c.Contd. III. IEELAND. From returns obtained from the Lord Lieutenant G-rand Jury cess 991,083 Poor rate 526,877 Rates under Towns Improvement Act 10,813 Municipal Corporation Act, 3 and 4 "1 ., cap. 108 ...:. : : ; Lighting and Watching, &c., Act 9 Geo. IV, 1 cap. 82 / Local acts 194,286 Ireland, total ............................ 1,729,683 Summary England and Wales (so for as ascertained) .................... 11,613,363 Scotland ................................................................................ 1,285,480 Ireland ................................................................................ 1,729,683 United Kingdom, light dues, 1859 ................................ 273,570 Total (so far as the same has been ascertained) .... 14,902,096 TABLE E. Local Taxation, 1860. The items of the following return show the amounts derived from the principal sources of our local taxation, so far as reliable information can be obtained. Although the amounts do not all apply to the same year, I am assured that they are in the main nearly the same as the aggregate amount of any recent year. In addition to these items, however, there are many others of which it is impossible to estimate the amount with any confidence, such as sewers rates ; lighting and watching rates ; improvement rates ; Metropolitan rates, tolls and dues ; Scotch burgh rates and county assessments. The returns required under the Local Taxation Keturns Act (1860) are, however, fast approaching completion, and these will put an end to all uncertainty.' KATES. Poor rates, England and Wales, 1859, to Lady-day, 1860 .... 7,715,948 Scotland, Whit Sunday, 1859 to 1860 ................ 671,516 Ireland, Lady-day, 1860 ........................................ 503,813 County receipts, England and Wales, to Michaelmas, 1860 1,222,765 Highways, parish, England and Wales, to 25th March, 1859 2,174,962 Turnpikes, England and Wales, to 31st December, 1858 .... 1,047,308 Scotland to Whit Sunday, 1859 ............................ 238,048 Church rates, 1853-54, England and Wales ............................ 482,500 G-rand Jury (Ireland) Presentments, 1861 ............................ 1,034,926 Burgh rates (Scotland), sums paid for prosecutions, 1854 .... 400,000 County police ............................................................ 24,000 Metropolitan (City) rates and duties ........................................ 200,000 Note. Sir S. H. Northcote's " Twenty Years of Financial Policy," p. 399. THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 119 TABLE S. Showing Amount of Local Taxation Received by each Class of Local Authorities in Ireland in 1869, with the Proportion of each to the whole. Classification of Local Authorities in Ireland. Amount Received. Proportion of Total Receipts. County authorities 1,132,168 Per cnt. 3 oi Poor law ,, 830 582 20 Town 487,336 i7i TTarhmir J} ,, , , 266,196 o| Inland navigations and drainage authorities Local court authorities 58,528 74,574 *i 2* Four of the special taxes on the trade of pawn- 1 broking . 7,619 i Deduct under douhle management 2,857,003 109,226 IOO Total 2,747,777 TABLE T. General Statement of Inland Revenue, Tears ending 31st March, 1867-68 and 1868-69. Heads of Revenue. Revenue Raised in Year. 1867-68. 1868-69. 1. Excise 20,173,288 9,461,010 3,450,318 6,184,166 20,45o>386 9,227,906 3,4.84,166 8,623,507 2. Stamps 3. Taxes 4. Income tax Total inland revenue 39,268,782 4^785,965 Total revenue from all sources, year ending 31st March, 1869, 72,59 1,99 iZ. Note. From " Report of Commissioners of Inland Revenue," 1870. 120 THE LOCAL TAXATION OF GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. TABLE U. Scotch Poor Law Board Expenditure. Period. Expenditure. Total. Rate per Head of Population. Rate per Cent, on Real Property according to Returns in 1843. For year ended 1st February, 1846 ... 14th May, 1847 '48 295,232 433>9 J 5 544,334 577,044 535,944 535,868 544,553 578,929 611,785 6 29,349 636,372 640,701 s. d, 2 3 3 3| 4 If 4 4f 4 5 3 8 3 9 2 4 - 4 2f 4 4} 4 4| 4 5 S. d. 3 3 4 4 13 - 5 16 9 6 3 9 649* 5 H ni 5 H "I 5 16 10 6 4 6 ii 3 i 6 15 -* 6 16 6 6 17 5l j> > '49 '50 '51 '52 '53 '54 '55 '56 '57 '58 . Period. Expenditure. Total. Rate per Head of Population. Rate per Cent. on the Annual Value of Real Property according to Returns in 1843. For year ended 14th May, >, Increase 1859 657,366 663,277 683,902 736,028 770,030 778,274 783,127 807,631 863,202 s. d. 4 6 4 7 4 6* 4 8} 4 9 5 -i 5 -I 5 Ii 5 3i 5 7i s. d. 7 i -i 7 2 3 f 7 6 8f 7 14 4 7 i7 ii 8 5 2i 8 6 nf 8 8 -i 8 13 3* '60 '61 '62 '63 . . '64 '65 '66 '67 '68 55,571 - 4i - ii ii Average expenditure for last ten years 746,215 4 lOf 8 - i 121 INDEX ABERDEEN, an example of Scotch Local Administration, 40. ACCOUNTABILITY, of Collectors and Administrators of Rates should be defined, S I . ADMINISTRATION, LOCAL, want of sys- tem in existing, 28, 39. ADMINISTRATORS of Local Taxation, the existing, 11, 14. ADVANTAGE of Local Knowledge in administering Local Matters, 57. AGRICULTURAL Counties, less heavily rated than formerly, 72. AGRICULTURAL Wages in England, 115. ALTERATION of Incidence in Local Taxation, resulting from alteration of proportions of division of Real Property, 69. AMOUNT of Local Taxation in years 1803, 1813-15, 1817, 1826-27, 1841, 1862, and 1868, 8. 1860, 1868-69 (in note), 8. AREAS FOR LOCAL TAXATION, num- bers of, 81. ASSESSMENT, want of publicity in, 34. On Agricultural Lands, 47. On the Rateable Value, a fair method for Local Taxation, 79. AVERAGE of Rates for Local Govern- ment, note to p. 74. BEACH, Sir H. M., Returns obtained by, on Local Taxation in England and Wales, 69. BECCLES, Property of Borough, 4. BOROUGH RATES in England, Tables of, 94, 95, 98, 108. BRIDGES AND FERRIES, Proceeds of, 3. CAIRD, Mr., on Division of Rates, 43. CANALS, Rating of, 51. Method of original rating more equitable than present system, 51. Acts of Parliament relating to, 51. COALS, Tax on, Objections to, 58. COMPANIES, Industrial, Rating of, 5154. COMPARATIVE TAXATION of United Kingdom and New York State, 85. CONSOLIDATION of Local Rates recom- mended, 35 38. CORFIELD, Mr., on Sewage Irrigation, 60. COUNTIES in England, Tables of Rates in, 94, 95, 97, 98. After deducting Towns Represented in Parliament, 97. Including Towns Represented, 94, 97. Ratio of Poor's Rate to Population, 99. Rates of Agricul- tural Wages in, 115. COUNTY, BOROUGH, AND POLICE RATES in England, Tables of, 94, 95, 98, 108. COUNTY RATE, amount of, in England. 114. DASHWOOD, CAPTAIN, F. L., on Half Rating System, 80. DE PARIEU, Quotations from, on Local Taxation, 2. Local Administration, 26. DESCRIPTION of Local Taxes, 14, 25, 26, 28. DIFFERENT scale of deductions for different Rates, disadvantages of, 34. DIVISION of Rates between Owner and Occupier, 39, 43, 66, 80, 88. DIVISION of Water Rate in Liverpool between Owner and Occupier, 68. ELIZABETH, Statute of, Properties made liable to Rates by, 82. ENGLAND, Receipts from Rates in, 8. Expenditure, 11. Increase of Rates, 13. Original system of Poor Relief, 18. Local Admi- nistration, 25, 28. Taxation of Railways, 51. Average of Poor Rates, 71. EQUALISATION of Rates would not result from levy on Income Tax basis, 76, 100, 101. EVERY TENEMENT AND RATEABLE PROPERTY should be numbered, 37. EXEMPTIONS of Government Property should cease, 49. EXISTING System of Collection, 30. EXPENDITURE of Local Taxation in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1870, 2. FAIRS AND MARKETS, Proceeds of, 3. FERRIES AND BRIDGES, Proceeds of, 3. Q-ASWORKS, Rating of, 50. At Man- chester, Profits from, to Corpora- tions, 60. At Sheffield, belonging to a " Company," comparison of prices charged with " Corporation " Gas- works, 61. GLADSTONE, Mr., Quotations from, on Equitable Adjustment of Taxation, 6. Remarks on Grants in Aid of Local Funds, 55. GLASGOW Waterworks, Rating of, 53. GAOLS, City and County, subdivision not needed, 57. Should be under Central, not Local, Administration, 57. GOSCHEN, Mr., Opinion on present Local Administration, 39, 68. GRANTS by Government in aid of Local Charges, 54. 122 INDEX. HALF EATING system for Agricultural Assessment recommended, 80. HAEBOUES, Proceeds of Dues, 3. HOLLAND, Pressure of Taxation in, 91. HORN, M., Opinion on Octroi Duties, 59. HOUSE OF COMMONS, Eeport of Select Committee on Local Taxation, 92. Extracts from Evidence, 88. HOUSE RENT, Local Taxes on, 67. HOUSE TAX, should be retained as an Imperial Tax, 68. IMPEEIAL Taxation to be considered with Local Taxation, 48. IMPROVEMENT, LOCAL, Average of Eates for, note to p. 74. Eates for, heavier than Local Government in Towns, 74, 94, 101, 108. Eates for, in Counties of England, 69, 94, 96, 98. IMPEOVEMENTS, PERMANENT, Paid for by Occupier, 66, 68, 89. INCIDENCE 01? LOCAL TAXATION, 64. As between Owner and Occupier, 66. As between Eural and Urban Districts, 70, 97. Alteration in, re- lative to Divisions of Eeal Property, 69. Table on this Subject, 112, 113. Of Property Tax levied on Eate- able Value for Counties in England, 99. After Deducting Towns Eepre- sented in Parliament, 101. Of all Eates, 94, 95, 102. INCOME TAX ASSESSMENT, Effect of Levying Poor's Eates on, 76. 111 effects of a High Bate, 77. INCOME TAX BASIS, Local Taxation Levied on, would not be Equalised. 76, 100, 101. INCONVENIENCE of Legislating on the Poor's Eate without taking all other Local Eates into consideration, 83. INCREASE in Yalue of Eeal Property between 1815 and 1868, 6, 7. Of Eeal Property other than Land, 1814, 1843, 1851-52, 1864-65, 1868, 19. In Property Assessed under Schedule A, 1853-67, 112. INCREASE IN LOCAL BURDENS since 1841, 13. How Divided, 13. INCREASE OF EATES falls on Occupier, 89. INLAND EEVENUE, System of Collec- tion, in United Kingdom, in Scot- land, in Ireland, 31. LOCAL LEVY might be made by the Officers of, 37. INTRODUCTION, 1. IRELAND, System of Local Government followed in, 44. Grand Jury Cess, Objects and Incidence, 44, 45. Comparison with England, 46. Poor Eate in, 47. LAND and other Property, Alteration in Eelative Position of, since 1814, as Contributors to Local Taxation, 20. Tables on Subject, 112, 113, 116. LIVERPOOL, Division of Water Eate in, between Owner and Occupier, 68. LOANS raised by Local Boards, State- ment of, needed, 5. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION, 11, 14, 25. MACCLESFIELD, an example of, 28. Different Local Authorities, 29. Levying different Eates with different Collectors, 29. Eates Levied on different sys- tems on the same Properties, 29. Differences in Eatings result- ing therefrom, 29. Borough pays County Eates, but has no share in the Administration, 30. Three different Annual Elections of Local Officers in the Borough, 30. Each Election with a dif- ferent Eegister, 30. Parlia- mentary Elections on a further different Eegister, 30. LOCAL COLLECTORS, Objections to, 33. LOCAL EATES in England, Tables of, 94, 95, 97, 98, 102, 105, 108, 114, 116, 117. LOCAL TAXATION. Expenditure in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1870, 2. Proceeds of Markets and Fairs, Bridges and Ferries, Harbours, Turnpike, Pilotage and Light Dues, 1867-68, 3. Loans Eaised by Local Boards, statement needed, 5. Local Taxation, Direct Taxation, 5. In years 1803, 1813-15, 1817, 1826-27, 1841, 1862, and 1868, 8. 1860, 1868-69 (in note), 8. Receipts from, how Divided, 9, 12. No proof that pressure of, has driven La.nd out of cultivation, 10. Principal Local Taxes, 11. Authorities managing Local Taxes, 11, 14. Numbers of, 14, 25, 26, 28, 81. Increase in Local Burdens since 1841, 13. Manner in which this Increase is Divided, 13. Uniform Collection of Eates recom- mended, 15. Modes of Voting for Local Authorities, 15. Alteration in relative position of Land and other Property since 1814, as Contributors to, 20. Increase of new Eates on House Property, not on Land, 21. Increase since 1843, 25. Levy might be advantageously made by the Officers of the Inland Eevenue, 37. Additional percentage to be charged on all Eates not paid by fixed date, 38. Want of system in existing Local Administration, 39. INDEX. Goschen, Mr., his opinion thereon, 39. Should be considered with Imperial Taxation, 48. Incidence of, 64. As between Owner and Occu- pier, 66. On House Rent, 67. Alteration of Incidence in vein I ion to Real Property, 69. Incidence of, as between Rural and Town Dis- tricts, 70, 97. Inquiry into in- equality of, 75. Would not be equalised if Levied on an Income Tax basis, 76, 100, 101. Assessment on the Rateable Value a fair method, 79. Numbers of Areas for, 81. Extracts from the Evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1870, on, 88. Rates borne by Occupier in the opinion of Mr. T. Taylor, Mr. C. S. Read, 88. Sir J. Thwaites, 89. Sir S. H. Waterlow, 90. Permanent Improve- ments Paid for by Occupier, 89. Increase of Rates falls on Occupier, 89. Amount in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, 1858-59, 117. In 1860, 118. In Ireland, 1869, 119. LOCAL TAXES might be collected by the Officers of Inland Revenue, 37. Should be separated from Imperial Taxes, 80. LONDON, Accounts of Corporation of, 1868-69, 4. Poor Rate in, 64. Local Taxation in, 64. Expenditure in, 65. Incidence of Rates in, 66. LOPES, SIR M., his opinion on Assess- ment of Landed Property, 47. MACCLESFIELD, an example of existing Local Administration, 28. MARKETS AND FAIRS, Proceeds of, 3. MARKETS, Tolls on, should not be High, 58. McCuLLOCH, Mr. J. R., on Adminis- tration of Poor Law, 87. On Extreme Taxation in Holland, 91. MILITIA, no Expense of, should be charged on the Rates, 58. MILL, Mr. J. S., on Advantage of House Tax, 68. M i N ES , Assessment of, recommended,49. NEW RATES, increase of, since 1841, 13. On House Property, not on Land, 20. NEW YORK STATE, Taxation in, com- pared with that in United Kingdom, No PROOF that Pressure of Local Tax- ation has driven Land out of Culti- vation, 10. NUMBERS of Areas for Local Taxation, 81. OCTROI DUTIES, Objections to, 59. OWNER AND OCCUPIER, Division of Rates between, 66. PALGRAVE, SIR P., on the Parish as the Territorial Unit, 80. PERCENTAGE, ADDITIONAL, to bo Charged on all Rates not Paid when Due, 38. PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS paid for by Occupier, 66, 68, 89. PILOTAGE AND LIGHT DUES, 3. PLANTATIONS, Rates on, 49. POLICE, Needless Subdivision of Forces, 55. More complete Organisation needed, 55. POLICE RATES in England, Tables of, 94, 95, 98, 108. POOR LAW GUARDIANS, Number of, in 1870, 26. POOR LAW Audit, 34. POOR'S RATES, Average of Rate in England, 71. Cheapen Labour, 21. Effect of Levying on an Income Tax Assessment, 76, 100, 101. Ireland, Rate in, 47. Less onerous in Towns than the other Rates, 72 London, Rate in, 64. Rate in 1818, 1842, 116. Reduction in, between 1834-37, 1. Ricardo, Mr., Quotation from, on Poor's Rates, 22. Scotland, Rate in, 41-. Tables of, in England, 94, 95, 96, 99, 100, 105. Towns in Eng- land, Details of Rate in, 105. POOR RELIEF, a heavier Tax than the Income Tax, 36. Average Expendi- ture, 1819-29, 1829-39, 1839-49, 1849-59, 1859-69, 16. Expenditure in Scotland, Rate of, 1856-68, 44. Compared with England, 44. In- tention of original Legislation of Elizabeth, 18, 78. Metropolitan Poor Act, 87. Metropolitan Com- mon Poor Fund, 87. PRINCIPAL Local Taxes, 11. PROPORTION per Head of Assessment under Schedule A, in Counties of England, years 1803, 1867-68, 111. PROVISIONS, Tax on, Objections to, 58. PURCHASE of Water and Gas Supply Companies by Municipalities, 63. QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY, Payments to, no deduction for Rates allowed, 50. RAILWAYS, Rating of, 50, 51. Unduly severe, 51. Based on Profits Earned, 51. Lower Assessment under Health of Towns Act, 51. Stock in Trade of, Taxed, 52. Severity of, in Eng- land, 54. Incidence in Scotland, 54. 124 INDEX. KATE IN THE POUND on Eateable Value of Poor's Rate, County Eates, &c., Improvement Eates, and all Bates in England, 94, 95, 97, 98, 102, 105, 108. EATE PER HEAD of Poor Eelief, 1. EATES, see Poor Eates. EATES for Health and Local Improve- ments, 24. For LOCAL GOVERN- MENT in Counties of England, 69. In 1868, 94, 96, 98. Average of Eates for, note to p. 74. Lower than for LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS in Towns, 74, 94, 101, 108. Amount of in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in 1858-59, 117. In 1860, 118. In Ireland, in 1869, 119. Higher in Urban than in Eural Unions, 72. High in Seaport Towns, 74, 75. Levied in Primary Districts, 11. Aggregate Districts, 11. EATING, General Eesults of, in Eng- land, 71. EATIO of Poor's Eate to Population in England, 1, 99. In Scotland, 120. EEAD, MR. C. S., Evidence of, 88. EEAL PROPERTY, Annual Yalue of, in years 1814-15, 1848, 113. EECEIPTS from Local Taxation, how divided, 9, 12. EEGISTRATION AND JURY LIST, Ex- penses of, should not be charged on the Eates, 58. EEVENUE, LOCAL, other sources of, than Eates, 58. EICARDO, MR., on Parochial System, 17. On Poor Eates, 22. EIGHT OF SHOOTING, when rateable, 49. ETJRAL AND TOWN Districts, difference between, in Local Taxation, 70, 97. SALEABLE UNDERWOODS, Eates on, 49. SANITARY COMMISSIONERS, Uniform Collection of Eates recommended by, 15. Definition of Boundaries, 38. SCOTLAND, System followed in, 39. Aberdeen, an example of, 40. Local Taxation of, divided between Owner and Occupier, 39, 42, 43. As great a diversity of Eates in Scotland as in England, 40. Eates Levied in Scotland, 40, 41, 43. Owner of Property, his interest in Local Tax- ation in Scotland, 43. Occupier, likewise interested, 43. Caird, Mr., his Opinion of advantage to Owner and Occupier, both being interested, 43. Comparison with England, 44. Poor Eate in, 44. SEAPORT TOWNS, pressure of Eates in, 74, 75. SEWAGE FARMS, as sources of Income to Local Authorities, 59. SIMON, DR., Suggested Eeforms in Metropolis Water Act, 63. STOCK-IN-TRADE exempt from Local Taxation in England, 52. Except in the case of Bailways, 52. 111 effect of Eating in England, 78. STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, Canal, Act directing Eating (note), 51. TAXATION, see Local Taxation. TAXATION in Holland, Pressure of, 91. TAYLOR, Mr. J., Evidence of, 88. THWAITES, SIR J., Evidence of, 89. TITHES, Eating of, 50. Deductions not allowed for Stipend of Curate ; or Payments to Queen Anne's Bounty : injustice of this, 50. TOOKE'S, MR., History of Prices, Quo- tations from, on Pressure of Local Taxation, 10. TOWNS in England, Details of Eating in, 70, 71, 97, 102, 105, 108. TOWNS EEPRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT, Incidence of all Eates in, 97, 102. TRAMPS, Numbers of, 56. Need of Stricter Dealing with, 56. TRAMWAYS, Charge to be made on, 59. TURNPIKES, Proceeds of, 3. UNIFORM Collection of Eates recom- mended, 15. UNION Chargeability Act, Effect of, 17. UNITED KINGDOM, Comparison of Tax- ation in, with that of New York State, 85. VAGRANTS, Numbers of, 56. VARIETY of Areas for Eating Purposes, 30, 81. VOTING for Local Authorities, Modes of, 17. WAGES in English Counties where Poor Eates are Highest and Lowest, 22. Agricultural, in England, 115. WATERLOW, SIR S. H., Evidence of, 90. WATERWORKS, Eating of, 50. Less Profitable to Corporations than Gas- works, 61. At Manchester, Finan- cial Eesult of Working, 62. At Liverpool, 62. WEST MIDDLESEX WATER COMPANY, Eating of, 52. WIGHTMAN, Mr. Justice, his Opinion on Eating of Eailways, Waterworks, &c., 52. WORCESTER AND BIRMINGHAM CANAL, Eating of (note), 51. HARKISON AND SONS, PRINTFRS IN ORDINARY TO BER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate NOVH1969 LD 2lA-60m-4,'64 (E4555siO)476B General Library University of California Berkeley 51989 HJ9426 Great Britain and" Ireland 9 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY