Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/124

PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. should be allocated to them.—These include licences and railway duty, land tax and inhabited house duty, and miscellaneous revenue, from which the revenue in 1900-01 was as follows:

Of the total revenue, amounting to 4,136,000l., derived from licence duties, no less than 3,886,000l. is local taxation revenue. On Mr. Goschen's original proposal to hand over to the local authorities the collection and variation of the licence duties, the Royal Commission remarks: 'It cannot be doubted that in the case of such licences as the dog and establishment licences, the collection of the duties by the local authority would add considerably to their yield.' Whether the licence duties should be collected by the national or local authorities is a question which need not concern us here. It is, at any rate, clear that they should not form part of the Imperial revenues. The land tax and inhabited house duty appear to belong more properly to the department of national than Imperial finance. The fact that in Ireland no such taxes at present exist, gives considerable scope to the national authority for raising additional revenue, should such be required. The total miscellaneous revenue in 1900–01 was 2,237,000l., of which 1,247,000l. was derived from Imperial sources, and the balance from the respective countries to the amount given above. 106