The New Irish Constitution: An Exposition and Some Arguments
History
The New Irish Constitution: An Exposition and Some Arguments
Home rule -- Ireland; Ireland -- Politics and government
From 1800 to 1817 the United Parliament imposed taxes on both England and
Ireland, but the Irish Treasury collected the Irish Revenue, defrayed the
local expenditure of Ireland as sanctioned by the United Parliament and
remitted the surplus in aid of the war expenditure. The greater part of
the burthen fell upon Great Britain, but Ireland’s share drained greatly
her resources. Her revenue which had produced £1,837,000 in 1793, reached
£7,305,000 in 1817, an increase of 300 per cent., while her contributions
during the years of war to the common expenditure calculated on the
principle adopted in the preceding paragraph amounted to about £3,000,000.
During the same period Great Britain contributed to the war out of revenue
about £43,000,000 on the annual average.
In 1817 the Irish Treasury was abolished, the exchequers of the two
countries were united, the British and Irish Revenues were paid alike into
the one exchequer. The Irish local expenditure was defrayed from that
exchequer under the check of the English Treasury, and the United
Parliament imposed and repealed Irish taxes. From 1817 for many years
Ireland fared badly. Her representatives in Parliament served her ill.
Tories, Whigs, and independent members failed alike in making England
understand Irish needs, and the British Parliament neglected Irish
interests. The years between 1817 and 1842 mark the first period of Irish
financial history dating from the war. It was a period of stagnation. Both
countries required time to recover from the calamity incident to war; but
the recovery would have been more rapid, even under heavy taxation, had
not progress been retarded by the unwise legislation of protection, which
fettered enterprise and restricted commerce. This evil, however, injured
Great Britain more than Ireland. In 1824 the separate Customs Departments
of the two countries were abolished. The trade between Great Britain and
Ireland was treated as coasting, and from that time no official record has
been kept of goods exported from and imported into both countries.
In 1817 the taxes levied in England were similar to, but not identical
with, those levied in Great Britain. Ireland was exempt from many taxes
levied here, and in some cases, such as spirits, she paid a lower rate of
duty. A period of profound peace enabled the government to remit taxation;
but those remissions were chiefly made in deference to British interests,
and in making them Irish interests were little considered. The truth of
this statement is illustrated by the Revenue Returns. The estimated
“_true_”(100) Revenue of Great Britain fell from £51,500,000 in 1820 to
£46,250,000 in 1840, although population, and with it consumption, had
increased. The “_true_” Revenue of Ireland in the same period rose from
£5,250,000 to £5,500,000. But it must be added that many of the taxes
remitted were taxes _not levied in Ireland_. In respect to them Great
Britain had to a certain extent a claim to prior consideration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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