Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/551

 FINANCE.] FRANCE 515 In order to obtain as correct a valuation as possible, a land register book was commenced in 1821, in which every piece of ground has to be described, with its extent and value, and the name of the owner. This work is not yet quite completed, and the continual changes which occur in the ownership of holdings, as well as in value or size, will always prevent it from being perfect. As it is, this gives the average net revenue of assessed land in France as amounting to 1,053,907,113 francs 56 centimes. In 1874 this yielded to the treasury a revenue of 169,905,814 francs. Each citizen owes to the state the value of three days work ; this is the contribution personnelle (poll tax). The value of a day s work varies with the districts ; but it cannot exceed 1 franc 50 centimes (Is. 2|d.) or be less than 50 centimes (5d.). Every proprietor or tenant, ex cept paupers, soldiers in service, and foreign diplomatic or consular agents, is assessed in proportion to the rent of the house he lives in. This tax, which is collected along with the preceding one, is distinctively called contribution mobiliere. In 1875 the contribution personnelle mobiliere gave a return of about 56 millions of francs. The tax on doors and windows rises in proportion to the population of the communes or towns, the average being 30 centimes (3d.) for one aperture in communes having under 5000 inhabitants, and 1 franc (lOd.) in those of 100,000 inhabitants and upwards. In 1871 the 8,467,483 houses in France were divided thus : Houses with one aperture 276, 384 two apertures 1,883,924 three apertures 1,601,050 four apertures 1,112,024 five apertures 793,551 six and upwards 2,800,550 The value of the assessment was 43,275,000 francs in 1875 ; but the enormous number of houses having only one door, and of those having two doors without a window, or one door and one window, tells strongly against the wis dom of such a tax. The licence tax is imposed on every person carrying on any business whatever ; physicians, bankers, and manu facturers are subject to this tax, as well as the humblest shopkeeper. On the 1st January 1873, 1,529,363 names were on the rolls as patentes, and the amount produced by the tax was for the same year 73,726,331 francs. A law of the 29th June 1872 has established a tax of 3 per cent, on the income derived from money invested in the public funds and from bonds and shares in commercial or industrial companies. This tax, added to other duties previously established, as the stamp and the duty of transmission, raises to 7^ per cent, the charges that this kind of property has to bear. These various taxes are collected by agents called percep- teurs, under the orders of the reccveurs particuliers or tresoriers payeurs gcneraux. Their number is 7000, hardly enough for the amount and intricacy of the work they have to do. They are paid, not by a salary, but by a percentage on the money they raise. The collecting of other less important taxes, as the tax on mortmain, on mines, on weights and measures, on houses and carriages, on billiards and clubs, is also entrusted to them. The excise revenue, or contributions indirectes, is man aged by a central office at Paris, with a directeur general, three administrateurs, and 94 other officials and clerks of various ranks. Each department has a directeur, assisted by inspecteurs, sous-directeurs, and controleurs. Under this head are comprised the taxes on intoxicating drinks, salt, tobacco, gunpowder, on public coaches and railways, on gold and silver work, on sugar, paper, matches, soap, stearine, salad oil, receipt stamps ; also the navigation dues, bridge tolls, and a few other special taxes of little import ance. The excise appears on the budget of 1877 for a sum of 1,039,293,800 francs. The taxes on paper, soap, stearine, oil, matches, &c., have been established in con sequence of the war of 1870-71. A numerous staff is employed to collect these duties. Besides the high func tionaries mentioned above and their clerks, there are 1795 receveurs ambulants, with 4637 commis ; alcohol, matches, paper, salt, &c., require 218 officials ; 200 are employed to collect the navigation tax ; 2038 are attached to the manu factures of sugar, (kc. The total number is above 19,000. For along time the customs (douane) were only a branch Customs. of the administration of the contributions indirectes, but since 1869 they have formed a special office, at the head of which is a directeur general, with a salary of 25,000 francs, assisted by two administrateurs and 93 clerks. As far as this office is concerned, France is divided into 26 districts, administered by 26 directeurs, residing at Dunkirk, Lille, Valenciennes, Charleville, Nancy, Spinal, Besanon, Bourg, Lyons, Chambery, Nice, Marseilles, Montpellier, Perpignan, Bayonne, Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes, Vannes, Brest, St Brieuc, Caen, Rouen, Le Havre, Boulogne, and Bas- tia. These directors have under them 81 inspectors, 71 sub-inspectors, and 130 clerks of all ranks. An armed force, composed of 245 captains, 469 lieutenants, 4056 non commissioned officers, and 14,207 privates (proposes), is dis tributed along the frontiers to prevent smuggling ; for the same purpose 1257 sailors, commanded by 371 patrons and sous-patrons, keep guard along the coasts. The customs contributed to the budget of 1877 a sum of 268,355,800. francs, and their collection cost 30,362,105 francs. There are still other sources from which money flows Other into the treasury. The administration of the enregistrement, sources of timbre, et domaines yielded 634,605,451 francs in 1877. revenue - This sum is made up (1) by the fees charged for the regis tration of all legal documents and deeds ; (2) by shooting and hunting licences ; (3) by the sale of stamps ; (4) by the revenues and sales of state property; and (5) by fines of various sorts and the cost to the public of legal proceedings. From this amount 19,038,400 francs must be deducted, being the expenditure required to pay the expense of col lection. The public forests and those managed by the state gave a return of 38,548,680 francs, and cost 12,995,732 francs. For all purposes connected with these taxes the country is divided into 32 districts, administered by as many con servateurs, whose residences are Paris, Rouen, Dijon, Nancy, Amiens, Troyes, Epinal, Chalons-sur-Marne, Besangon, Lons-le-Saulnier, Grenoble, Alengon, Bar-le-Duc, Macon, Toulouse, Tours, Bourges, Moulins, Pau, Rcnnes, Niort, Carcassonne, Aix, Nimes, Aurillac, Bordeaux, Ajaccio, Chaumont, Vesoul, Chambe ry, Nice, and Valence. The post office department employs about 32,000 offi cials, at a cost of about 71,500,000 francs, and yielded 116,126,000 francs in 1877. The telegraph service is under the minister of the interior. In 1872, 123,000 kilometres (76,430 miles) of wires were laid along distances of 44,965 kilometres (27,940 miles). In 1877 the total income from this source amounted to 16,600,000 francs. The income from other less important resources, which cannot here be noticed in detail, may be estimated at not much less than 2 millions of francs. The total income of the public treasury in France, in- National eluding the revenues of the departments and communes, debt, is above 3,000,000,000 francs (120,000,000), which is more than any other nation has to pay for the expenses of its government ; and yet this enormous Bum has not been sufficient to meet the wants of the state, for repeated loans have constantly increased the public debt. Not taking into account the petty payments of all sorts that Government has always to make, the public debt is divided into funded (dette consolidee) and floating debt (dette fiottante). The funded debt is not subject to reimburse-