| Iron-works, 39.92% | 3.63% |
| Fisheries, 57.37% | 5.21% |
| Gasworks, 126.02% | 11.45% |
| Railways, 83.29% | 7.57%[1] |
If we compare the years from 1858 to 1864 in three sets of
four consecutive years each, the rate of augmentation of the
income increases constantly. It is, e.g., for that arising from
profits between 1853 to 1857, 1.73% yearly; 1857-1861,
9.74%, and for 1861-64, 9.30% yearly. The sum of the
incomes of the United Kingdom that come under the income
tax was in 1856 £307,068,898; in 1859, £328,127,416; in
1862, £351,745,241; in 1863, £359,142,897; in 1864,
£362,462,279; in 1865, £385,580,020.[2]
The accumulaton of capital was attended at the same time by its concentration and centralisation. Although no official statistics of agriculture existed for England (they did for Ireland), they were voluntarily given in 10 counties. These statisties gave the result that from 1851 to 1861 the number of farms of less than 100 acres had fallen from 31,583 to 26,597, so that 5016 had been thrown together into larger farms.[3] From 1815 to 1825 no personal estate of more than £1,000,000 came under the succession duty; from 1825 to 1855, however, 8 did; and 4 from 1856 to June, 1859, i.e., in 44 years.[4] The centralisation will, however, be best seen from a short analysis of the Income Tax Schedule D (profits, exclusive of farms, &c.), in the years 1864 and 1865. I note beforehand that incomes from this source pay income tax on everything over £60. These incomes liable to taxation in England,
- ↑ Ibidem.
- ↑ These figures are sufficient for comparison, but, taken absolutely, are false, since, perhaps, £100,000,000 of income are annually not declared. The complaints of the Inland Revenne Commissioners of systematic fraud, especially on the part of the commercial and industrial classes, are repeated in each of their reports. So e.g. “A Joint-stack company returns £6000 as assessable profits, the surveyor raises the amount to £88,000, and upon that sum duty is ultimately paid. Another company which returns £190,000 is finally compelled to admit that the true return should be £250,000." (Ibid. p. 42.)
- ↑ Census, &c., l. c., p. 29. John Bright's assertion that 150 landlords own half of England, and 12 half the Scotch soil, has never been refuted.
- ↑ Fourth Report, &c., of Inland Revenue, Lond., 1860, p. 17.
