DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22140#0450
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL HISTORY.
the effect of the tax was to check the consumption and lower the
price of barley, and so to arrest the growth of rent from light
land. It is remarkable, however, that though they insisted on
this change while in opposition, they never could procure it from
the Conservative party when that party was in office. Under
our fiscal system it was impossible to dispense with taxes on
alcoholic drinks, and, in particular, to remit or reduce the tax on
one kind, while it was maintained in full on another kind.
Experience too has shown that if a revenue is the object of a
Government, it is not possible to successfully attempt a high ad
valorem tax on certain alcoholic fluids. At first sight it would
seem fair to levy a high tax on foreign wines, especially those
which bear a high price. But in practice it is found that such a
tax defeats itself, that consumption is checked, and the revenue
sufsers. There is, and always will be, no fertile customs or excise
which does not come from the habitual consumption of the poor.
Now in alcoholic fluids that kind is always the most popular and
most fruitful for revenue purposes of which the initial cost of
production is the lowest. This is spirits, particularly English gin,
which could be supplied from fermented barley, the operation
being disferent from that of malting, at not more than two
shillings a gallon. But the duty imposed on it is more than five
times the cost of production. But if you take the average prices
of strong wines at fifteen shillings a gallon, such wines containing
30 per cent, of the spirit which is charged at so high a rate when
it is the product of distillation, the tax per gallon is one-fifth of
the initial value ; while in beer it is about one-half the same cost
or charge. The proportion seems to be unfair in the highest
degree ; but experience has proved that the ratio given alone, or
something very close to it, must be preserved, if the revenue is
to be fruitful. If, therefore, taxation checks the consumption
of barley and the profits of barley growing, the check is
greatest where the taxation is highest, and the raw material is
most exclusively barley. But this is the case with British-made
spirits. I was greatly amused when the tax was repealed, and the
demand of the landowners conceded, at the disappointment which
was expressed at the substituted tax on beer, into which it was
by no means certain that more malt would go, for even the dullest
the effect of the tax was to check the consumption and lower the
price of barley, and so to arrest the growth of rent from light
land. It is remarkable, however, that though they insisted on
this change while in opposition, they never could procure it from
the Conservative party when that party was in office. Under
our fiscal system it was impossible to dispense with taxes on
alcoholic drinks, and, in particular, to remit or reduce the tax on
one kind, while it was maintained in full on another kind.
Experience too has shown that if a revenue is the object of a
Government, it is not possible to successfully attempt a high ad
valorem tax on certain alcoholic fluids. At first sight it would
seem fair to levy a high tax on foreign wines, especially those
which bear a high price. But in practice it is found that such a
tax defeats itself, that consumption is checked, and the revenue
sufsers. There is, and always will be, no fertile customs or excise
which does not come from the habitual consumption of the poor.
Now in alcoholic fluids that kind is always the most popular and
most fruitful for revenue purposes of which the initial cost of
production is the lowest. This is spirits, particularly English gin,
which could be supplied from fermented barley, the operation
being disferent from that of malting, at not more than two
shillings a gallon. But the duty imposed on it is more than five
times the cost of production. But if you take the average prices
of strong wines at fifteen shillings a gallon, such wines containing
30 per cent, of the spirit which is charged at so high a rate when
it is the product of distillation, the tax per gallon is one-fifth of
the initial value ; while in beer it is about one-half the same cost
or charge. The proportion seems to be unfair in the highest
degree ; but experience has proved that the ratio given alone, or
something very close to it, must be preserved, if the revenue is
to be fruitful. If, therefore, taxation checks the consumption
of barley and the profits of barley growing, the check is
greatest where the taxation is highest, and the raw material is
most exclusively barley. But this is the case with British-made
spirits. I was greatly amused when the tax was repealed, and the
demand of the landowners conceded, at the disappointment which
was expressed at the substituted tax on beer, into which it was
by no means certain that more malt would go, for even the dullest