79.-Imported Articles containing Sugar: Details, 1923-24 " " Details, 1923-24 Duty-free uses 83.-Glucose: Consumption and Receipts " " Page 131 132 133 137 138 138 139 140 Table 95.-Excise Licences: Rates of Duty, 1923-24 144 145 145 146 147 148 Class A.-Liquor Licences: Numbers and Receipts: Class B.-Other Trading Licences: Numbers and Receipts: Table 102.-Appraisers and House Agents EXCISE LICENCE DUTIES-continued :— Class C.-Establishment Licences: Numbers and Receipts: 114.-Armorial Bearings .. Class D.-Gun and Game Licences: Numbers and Receipts : Page 174 175 175 175 176 176 A 4 TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HIS MAJESTY'S TREASURY. We have the honour to submit our Report for the year ended 31st March, 1924, being the 68th Report relating to the Customs, the 67th relating to the Excise, and the 15th relating to the Customs and Excise jointly. CHANGES IN TAXATION. The Finance Act of 1923 reduced the duty on beer by £1 per bulk barrel (subject to the qualification that the duty on beers of low gravity should not thereby be reduced to less than 24s. per bulk barrel), reduced the Excise duty on sweetened table waters by one half, and repealed the duty on cider and perry. Minor concessions were the grant of drawback on goods containing roasted coffee or chicory; further extensions of the provision, made in 1922, for reduced duty on negative cinematograph films produced abroad by British subjects; and modifications and extensions of the exemptions from entertainments tax granted to certain kinds of shows and exhibitions. Particulars of these changes are given in the relative Sections below. POSITION OF THE DEPARTMENT AS REGARDS The transitional arrangements which were in force during 1922-23, as described in our last Report, regarding the trade in dutiable articles and the allocation of revenue between this country and the Irish Free State, came to an end on 31st March, 1923. As from 1st April, 1923, trade with the Free State by sea became foreign trade instead of coastwise trade, as previously. Trade across the land boundary between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland similarly became foreign trade, and a Customs land frontier was accordingly established along that boundary in order to control land traffic. The result of the adjustments of accounts with the Free State in respect of Customs and Excise revenue in 1922-23 was as follows: Due from Free State in respect of Excise Revenue 7,778,000 Net amount due from Free State £2,888,000 .. Of this sum £2,250,000 was paid in 1923-24, leaving a balance of £638,000 to be carried forward into 1924–25. THE REVENUE. Estimates and Receipts. The Budget estimates and the actual receipts were : The amount paid into the Exchequer was greater than the net receipts, as shown in Table 2. The principal differences from the Budget estimate were as follows: The revenue of 1923-24 lost by postponements of clearances at the end of the year, but gained, to a greater extent, by similar postponements at the end of 1922-23. Comparison with 1922-23. The revenue for 1922-23 is shown in this and the previous Report on two separate bases, viz.: "collected" and "attributable ", the former being the revenue collected in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the latter the revenue attributable to the Imperial Exchequer after the necessary adjustments with the Irish Free State had been made in respect of goods which paid duty in one country but were consumed in the other. For the purpose of comparisons between that and the following financial year, the attributable figures for 1922-23 must be taken, both as regards particular items and as regards the revenue as a whole. In the 1923-24 figures only the totals of Customs and Excise revenues are affected by the adjustment with the Free State. The amount received is credited in Table 3 to "Miscellaneous," in Tables 4 to " Other Articles and Deposits," and in Table 5 to " Deposits, etc." The comparison of total revenues is then as follows: The principal differences between the receipts in 1923-24 and the attributable revenue in 1922-23 were as follows: Figures are given in the more important tables for ten years and in the others for five years, but the figures for 1923-24 are not comparable with those for years before 1922-23, being for Great Britain and Northern Ireland only, whereas the figures for 1921-22 and earlier years relate to the United Kingdom as a whole. The only exceptions are the receipts from the duties on patent medicines, railway passenger fares, entertainments, licences, and clubs, owing to the fact that the first two duties were never extended to Ireland, while the receipts from the other three duties have always been recorded separately for each part of the United Kingdom. |