12. FINANCE. In matters of finance, as well as in many other things, Australia presents a most interesting field for study. Sprung from a splendid body of pioneers, who had been brave and enterprising enough to quit the old home-land, with all its tender associations, the colonists have wrought wonders. Untram meled by any undue preference for the old ways and with ample scope for bold, not to say audacious, experimenting, the spirit of enter prise, inherent from their fathers strong in them, the second generations of the settlers, who are the Australians of to-day, have striven to put into practice, and by no means without success, some theories which have elsewhere remained merely theories. In their systems of land settlements, their state ownership of such undertakings as railways, tramways, water works, etc., and in schemes of taxation, to say nothing of other matters of finance, they have sometimes dis carded precedent and have no reason to be ashamed of the results which they have to show for their enterprise and fearlessness. Compli cated as are, in some respects, Australian ques tions, through the existence, at one and the same time, of a dual citizenship, every person owing allegiance to his own individual state and also to the broader Commonwealth gov ernment, a very little care will enable a com plete view to be taken of Australian finance, including both those figures relating to the Commonwealth, or national, and to the state or provincial governments. The 5,000,000 peo ple of the Commonwealth occupying the great island continent of Australia and the adjacent small one of Tasmania, with an area in all, or as nearly as possible, 3,000,000 square miles, having, for national purposes, united under the Commonwealth Constitution Act, are still, in respect of all but certain specified matters, citi zens of one or other of the six states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Aus tralia, Western Australia and Tasmania. So far as their finances are concerned it is neces sary to remember that to the Commonwealth are assigned very large powers of taxation, which, however, up to 1914 were only exercised in respect of customs and excise, the whole revenue from which is collected by the Com monwealth, the balance, after meeting its own necessaries, was handed over to the states, in proportion to the amount of the duties de rived in each state. In 1910 arrangements were made with the states in lieu of the above provision that 25/ per head of the population should be returned to the states. The Com
monwealth controls all posts, telegraph and telephones, as well as all military and naval defenses, and also several other important de partments of state, but the finances and statis tics are unaffected by these matters, as in the case of all of them where there is a Common wealth control, state control ceases. In taxa tion, however, if it were attempted to show the total for Australia by adding to the total for the Commonwealth those for the states, the result would be wrong; just as would be any attempt to get the total revenue and expendi ture for Australia by adding Commonwealth totals to those of all the states, because of the portion of the customs and excise revenue which, being first collected by the Common wealth, is afterward paid over to the states and so would appear twice in the totals.
In this statement care will be taken to show all the figures once, without any duplication whatever. The figures given will, unless other wise stated, be from the latest volume pub lished by the Commonwealth government statis tician, Mr. G. H. Knibbs, C.M.G The customs and excise revenue for the year ending 30 June 1914 was collected under the following heads: Customs Stimulants £2,810,222 Narcotics 1,175,404 Sugar 209,375 Agricultural products and groceries 1,002,363 Apwel and textiles 2.514,170 Metals and machinery 1,672,125 Oils, paint and varnish 310,847 Earthenware, etc 426,134 Drugs and chemicals 122,960 Wood, wicker and cane 555,843 Jewelry and fancy goods 272,214 Leather and rubber 470,382 Paper and stationery 234,504 Vehicles 343,633 Musical instruments 166,059 Miscellaneous 330,548 Other receipts Total customs £12,652,737 Excise itimulants £1,213,749 Tobacco 927,293 Sugar 179,149 lducellaneous 5,142 Total excise £2,325,333 Total customs and excise £14,978,070 The Commonwealth up to 1910 had no rev enue from any other form of taxation besides customs and excise. A land tax was then imposed which in 1914 brought into the revenue £1,609,836. The total revenue, including postal, patents, trade marks, coinage, etc., amounted in 1914 to #21,741,775. A progressive income tax was passed in 1915 to meet war expendi ture. This is as high as 5/ in the pound on incomes of £6,500 or over; an excess tax on profits has also been imposed.