FINANCE. The following figures show the growth of the Belgian budget, as well as the relation between revenue and expenditure: The deficit is really much larger than it ap pears from the table, owing to the fact that the revenues include the amounts raised by loans in order to meet or reduce the deficits from year to year.
Besides suffering from a chronic deficit, Bel gium has a system of taxation which is bur densome to the masses of the population. In I S54 the direct taxes constituted 25 per cent. of the revenue of the State, and the indirect, 28 per cent. In 1901 the proportion of direct taxes fell to about 10 per cent., while that of the indirect taxes rose to about 35 per cent. The chief sources of direct taxation are property taxes, personal taxes, taxes on trades, etc.; the most important indirect taxes are import duties, and excise duties on whisky, beer, vine gar, tobacco, and sugar.
In addition to taxation, revenues are derived from State domains and forests, State railways, telegraph, post-office, and other Government in stitutions conducted on a business basis. The largest item of expenditure, next to that on railways, posts, telegraphs, and telephones Ivhieh need not be considered here, as it is more in the nature of a profitable investment than a source of expense to the State—is the service of the public debt, which absorbs more than a fourth of the ordinary revenue of the State. The
Ministry of War spends nearly twice as much as that of Interior and Public Instruction, and is followed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Works.
Public Debt.—Most of Belgium's debt has been inenrrod for profitable undertakings, espe cially in connection with her railway enterprises. The national debt has grown as follows: 1835 $23,400,000 1850 125,300,000 1870 136,600,000 1890 4W.000,000 1900 532,200,000 Of the $532,200,000, $44,000,000 represents the old Netherland debt, $10,700,000 is a non interest-bearing floating debt, and the rest repre sents the growing consolidated 3 per cent. debt. The payment on the debt requires more than $26.000,000 annually, including sinking-fund payments.