Page:Problems of Empire.djvu/130

PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE. The minor branches of revenue, viz., licences, railway duty, land tax, inhabited house duty, and miscellaneous revenue, would produce only a small proportion of the sum required in each case. What other branches of revenue can be handed over to the national authorities? Customs and income tax must, for the reasons already given, clearly remain in Imperial hands, and whatever may be done with the revenue derived from the beer and spirit duties, the rates of duty must be fixed and the duties collected by the Imperial authority. Excise duties on beer and spirits constitute, with the exception of customs, by far the largest item of the revenue contributed by Ireland. Customs and excise duties on beer and spirits together account for over six millions out of a total revenue of 9½ millons. Estate duties seem on the whole more suitable for Imperial management than for national control; and if the revenue from estate duties were handed over to the national authorities, there would be a surplus in the case of England, and a deficiency in the case of Scotland and Ireland. This deficiency would have to be made good by grants from the Imperial Exchequer. The claim of Ireland to special treatment, for the reasons given earlier in this paper, might render it desirable to hand over the estate duties in Ireland to the Irish National Authority. Stamps, on the other hand, appear better suited for national control than any of the other items of revenue we have been considering. If the revenue from stamps, in addition to the minor branches of revenue already mentioned, were handed over to the national authorities, the position would be as follows:— 112