LOCAL TAXATION ACCOUNT. Legislative and Administrative Changes affecting the Account. A brief statement as to the origin and objects of the Local Taxation Account established by the Local Government Act, 1888, was given in the Report for the year 1920-21 (pages 96 and 97), together with a list of the principal alterations of the law relating to it which had come into operation before the end of that year. Two further alterations affecting the Account came into operation during the year 1923-24. The first of these-effected by the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923-has already been mentioned (pages 77 to 79). The second-effected by the Diseases of Animals Act, 1924,is referred to below. Payments out of the Local Taxation Account to the Cattle Pleuropneumonia Account. Expenses incurred by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in connection with the suppression of foot-and-mouth disease and certain other diseases of animals are charged on the Cattle Pleuropneumonia Account for Great Britain. The Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, provides that the amount to be voted by Parliament in any one year towards the costs charged on the last-mentioned Account shall not exceed £140,000; that the net sums received by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries on the sale of the carcases of animals slaughtered by his orders shall be paid to that Account; and that any deficit on that Account shall be paid (as to 88 per cent.) out of the Estate Duty Grant receivable by the Local Taxation Account and (as to 12 per cent.) out of the Local Taxation (Scotland) Account. In the autumn of 1923 there began the worst series of outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease that Great Britain has experienced for many years. The net commitments of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in connection with that series of outbreaks are estimated to have amounted, up to the end of the financial year 1923-24, to £3,200,000, of which, under the Act of 1894, £2,728,000 was payable from the Local Taxation Account for England and Wales out of the Estate Duty Grant. One result of so large a payment out of the Estate Duty Grant would have been that the moneys available for distribution in respect of the year 1923-24 out of that Grant in aid of rates would have been reduced to an amount far below the average of the amounts which have been available for that purpose in recent years. In these circumstances Parliament passed the Diseases of Animals Act, 1924 (which provides that the limit of £140,000, imposed by the Act of 1894 on the moneys to be voted in any one year towards the costs charged on the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account, shall not apply to moneys voted in the financial year 1923-24) and thereupon voted a large sum additional to the £140,000, on the understanding that the sum to be paid from the Local Taxation Account for 1923-24 to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account should be limited to such a sum as would leave available for distribution in aid of rates out of the Estate Duty Grant for 1923-24 a sum equivalent to the average of the sums so distributed out of that Grant in the five years next before 1923-24. The sums so distributed in each of those years will be seen on reference to column 7 in Appendix XI (page 157). They amount in all to £13,785,497, giving an average for the five years of £2,757,099. This sum is accordingly the amount of the Estate Duty Grant distributable in aid of rates for the year 1923-24; and the remainder of the Grant, provisionally estimated to amount to £733,901, has been paid into the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account in lieu of the sum of approximately £2,728,000, which might have been payable if the Act of 1894 had been left to operate without modification. Payments out of the Account. Details of the amounts which have passed through the Account are given in Appendix XI (pages 156 and 157 below). The total proceeds of certain duties payable into the Account in respect of a financial year are not ascertainable by the collecting Departments until after the close of the year, and consequently, although payments "on account" of these duties can be, and are, made in the course of the year of collection, there always remains at the end of that year a balance for distribution in the course of the following year. Thus, the amount distributable by the Department out of the Account in respect of the financial year 1922-23 was distributed, as to £8,064,647 in the course of that year, and as to the balance, viz., £621,052, in the course of the year 1923-24. Similarly, in the course of the year 1923-24, the Department have distributed £11,025,679 out of the Account in respect of that year, (including £2,831,789 out of the additional grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923), leaving a balance, the amount of which was not ascertainable at the end of the year, to be distributed out of the Account in the course of the year 1924–25. The Local Taxation Account and Local Taxation Licence Duties which do not pass through that Account: Amounts for the year 1922-23. The amount of the grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896,* for the year 1922-23, viz., £1,322,570, has already been mentioned (page 78). Excluding that amount, the sums payable out of the Local Taxation Account in respect of the year 1922-23 were as follows: Local Taxation Licence Duties: £ On account of the grant under section 88 (1) of the Amount collected during the financial year 1922-23 in respect of local taxation licence duties leviable otherwise than by the Councilst 536,954 297,634 2,639,438 .. 3,556,430 Estate duty grant (as provided for in section 19 of the Finance Act, 1894) Grant under section 6 of the Finance Act, 1908 (in respect of costs of collection), as amended by section 62 of the Finance Act, 1921 Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) duties (being the amount of the grant in respect of these duties under section 17 (1) of the Revenue Act, 1911) 60,000 1,107,260 Total, excluding the grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896 7,363,128 No part of the grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923, was distributable during the year 1922–23. ↑ See, for a list of the duties, the last paragraph of note * on page 156. Including a sum of £44,407 paid to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account (see column 11 on page 157). The proceeds of such of the local taxation licence duties as remain leviable by the Councils of Counties and County Boroughs in pursuance of section 6 of the Finance Act, 1908, do not pass through the Local Taxation Account.* The sums received by the Councils from the Postmaster General or otherwise in respect of those duties, and dealt with by the Councils as though they had passed through the Account, amounted for the year 1922-23 to £1,275,808. This total comprised the following items: Collected in respect of dog licences Collected in respect of other licences Amount of penalties received by the Councils Less Repayments of licence duty made by the Councils .. Net total amount retained by the Councils in respect of licence duties leviable by them.. £ 808,749 461,183 6,832 1,276,764 956 1,275,808 The total received in respect of the year 1922-23 into the Local Taxation Account (otherwise than for the grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896), viz., £7,363,128, and the above-mentioned total of £1,275,808, together amount to £8,638,936. Deducting the sum of £44,407, referred to in note on page 81, paid to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account in pursuance of section 18 of the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, the amount received by the Councils in respect of the year 1922-23 was £8,594,529. A statement showing in detail how this amount had been distributed between the several Councils has been sent to them by the Department. The Parliamentary grants discontinued under the Local Government Act, 1888, on the establishment of the Local Taxation Account, had amounted in the year 1887-88, according to certificates issued under section 22 (1) and (2) of that Act, to £2,860,384. Subject to final adjustments between the Councils themselves, the above-mentioned sum of £8,638,936 for the year 1922-23 was allocated as follows: To the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account £ 44,407 £ To Counties in England, excluding Monmouth 5,941,860 2,207,361 352,625 92,683 8,594,529 The final application of the last-mentioned total of £8,594,529 as made through the Exchequer Contribution Accounts of the several Councils and otherwise was, as nearly as can at present be stated, as follows: 1. To Poor Law authorities, in respect of :- 2. To other Local Authorities, in respect of maintenance of lunatics in asylums 3. To Police Authorities, in respect of the police 4. To Education Authorities, in respect of higher education 3456 5. To Sanitary Authorities, in respect of certain health officers 7. To miscellaneous costs and expenses 8. Balance, applicable generally in aid of rates of County and County Borough Councils *See, for a list of the duties, note § on page 157. Summary for the Year 1922-23. The Local Authorities received, in respect of the year 1922-23, out of the moneys which pass through the Local Taxation Account and the proceeds of local taxation licence duties retained by them, the sum of £8,594,529 above mentioned, and the sum of £1,322,570 out of the grant under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896 (see page 78), making a total of £9,917,099. This sum was allocated approximately as follows, subject to final adjustments between the Councils in certain cases : The equivalent average amounts per pound of assessable value under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, and per head of estimated population were as follows: Grant under the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899. Sums appropriated under the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899, out of the Estate Duty Grant, are not distributed by the Minister of Health but are paid by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue under the provisions of that Act in respect of a moiety of certain rates otherwise payable by beneficed owners of tithe rent charges, and are not included in any of the foregoing totals. The amount estimated to have been so appropriated for the year 1923-24, viz., £378,300, together with the amounts for earlier years is, however, set out in column 12 of the table on page 157. The foregoing entries on pages 80 to 83 are restricted to sums distributed, through the Local Taxation Account and otherwise, in respect of the revenues assigned to Local Authorities by the Local Government Act, 1888, and the other Acts there mentioned. The entries do not include any grants borne on annual votes of Parliament. LOCAL FINANCIAL STATISTICS. Statistics for Year 1921-22. A statement of the sums expended and received by all the Local Authorities in England and Wales during the year 1921-22, and of their outstanding external loan debt at the end of that year, is printed in Appendix XII. (pages 158 and 159 below). The Local Authorities whose financial transactions are summarised in the statement include all County Councils, Councils of Municipal Boroughs, Councils of Metropolitan Boroughs, Councils of Urban Districts other than Boroughs, Rural District Councils, Boards of Guardians, the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylum District,_the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, Burial Boards, the Port of London Authority and other Harbour Authorities not being commercial companies or private owners, the Metropolitan Water Board and other Water Boards, Parish Councils, Overseers, and all other Local Authorities authorised to levy, or order to be levied, rates, taxes, tolls, or dues within the meaning of the Local Taxation Returns Acts, 1860 and 1877. The number of such Authorities having financial transactions during the year 1921-22 was 24,867. The amounts expended and received by the Local Authorities during the year 1921-22, and the amount of their outstanding external loan debt at the end of that year, were as follows: (a) In addition there were sums which had been borrowed before the end of the year and at that date were awaiting allocation to specific services. (b) Excluding the amounts outstanding in respect of the sums mentioned in note (a). 353,258,861 21,208,977 374,467,838 118,725,363 8,650,167 (a)127,375,530 729,114,919 39,451,833 (b)768,566,752 |