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THE EXAMINER. 137-----
Exchequer said he had under-rated the produce of the tax considerably;
but that Gravesend was under circumstances which could render a tax upon
steam-vessels less burdensome to those interests than it would be to those
in other neighbourhoods. The deputation assured his lordship that such
was not the case. They said that the duty on persons travelling by stage
coach was about 15 per cent. on the amount of their fares, whereas the
proposed tax on travelers by steam would exceed 100 per cent. upon their
fares, and in many cases amount to no less than 3,000 per cent. The tax
on coaches, including the assessed taxes, the mileage duty, and the tax on
the coachman, amounted to three-pence per passenger for 22 miles. The
disparity between the two taxes would therefore be enormous. The
collection would be attended with innumerable difficulties. There was no
mode, for example, in a vessel which travelled a given distance—as that
from London to Gravesend— whereby the tax could be levied on
passengers for any intermediate distances, as five or ten miles—and such
passengers formed a considerable portion of those who travelled by
steam-vessels. Great numbers of persons had taken residences at Gravesend on
account of the cheap conveyance afforded by the purchase of yearly tickets,
which entitled the holders to conveyance at all times. These tickets were
sold at three guineas each, for which the owner might pass and repass
between 600 and 700 times. The proposed tax, therefore, upon those who
passed and repassed each day would be 60l. each person per annum, or 20
times the amount of the fare. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that
government intended to modify the duty. It would not be imposed as a
poll tax, but rather as a tax on the vessel—possibly upon the tonnage.
Government were not disposed to abandon the tax. The deputation
declared that such a mode of taxing would check the improvements making
in such mode of conveyance by increased length and size, which considerably
added to the speed of the boats: and that if government intended to
assimilate the tax, to the duty on coaches, so as to be at the rate of 3d. per
passenger, the tax would not be worth the expense of collecting. If a duty
exceeding that were put on, the produce and the traffic would be
annihilated. In 1827 when the fare was 3s., not one-fifth of the number of persons
resorted to Gravesend, as compared with the number in 1830, when
the fare was but 1s. 6d. The visitors to Gravesend consisted of the working
and middling classes, whose means were now much straitened, and the
consequence of the proposed tax would be, a proportionate reduction in
the number of passengers. The deputation having received no further
assurance of relief from the intended measure, retired, after having
expressed their determination to petition parliament against the tax.
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Identifier: | JB/004/070/009"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 4. |
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1831-02-27 |
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lord brougham displayed |
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the examiner / sunday, february 27, 1831 / no. 1204 |
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(130-144) |
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[[notes_public::"john fonblanques eulogium on brougham" [note in bentham's hand]]] |
1991 |
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