EXCISE DUTIES. This name is given to taxes or duties levied upon articles of con sumption which are produced within the king dom ; and also upon licences to permit persons to carry on certain trades, the post-horse du ties, and others of a similar kind.
Excise duties are said to have had their origin in this country in the reign of Charles I., when a tax was laid upon beer, cider, perry, of home production, by the Long Parliament in 1643. This act contains also a list of foreign articles upon which excise duties were im posed in addition to duties of customs already chargeable. This act was adopted and en forced under the protectorate of Oliver Crom well ; and under Charles II. the duties of ex cise were granted to the crown as part of its revenue.
In every highly taxed country, where con sumption duties form part of the public re venue, it would seem to be hardly possible to avoid the adoption of this class of duties. In England a drawback is allowed on the expor tation of domestic articles which are subject to excise duty.
Excise duties are liable to this among other very serious objections, that the regulations under which they are collected interfere with processes of manufacture, so as to prevent the adoption of improvements. Upon the same premises, with the same capital and the same amount of labour, double the quantity of cloths has been printed which could have been printed previous to the repeal of the duty and the consequent abolition of the ex cise regulations. The abolition of the excise duty on glass in 1845 was made princi pally with the object of facilitating improve ments in the manufacture; and this result has been most remarkably apparent. The Crystal Palace, as it is termed, could not have been built six years ago, before the glass du ties were removed ; neither the market price of glass nor the manufacturing arrangements would have permitted its construction. The excise regulations respecting the manufacture of soap have prevented our soap manufac turers from entering into competitionwith the manufacturers of other countries. The effect of the paper duty has been already adverted to. [BOOK TRADE.] Another great objection to excise duties is, the facilities which they offer for the commission of frauds against the revenue.
In 1797 the number of articles subject to excise duties was 28 ; 15 in 1833 ; 10 in 1835; and in 1845 there were only 9, including sugar. The post-horse duty is under the management of the Board of Excise, and in Ireland the duty on game certificates. The brick duty was repealed in 1850. The eight following articles are still subject to these du ties, and with sugar made here constitute all the articles on which the excise duty is now collected: — Hops, Licences, Malt, Pepper, Soap, British Spirits, Vinegar. All such im posts as the window tax come under the desig nation of assessed taxes, and not excise duties.
In 1822 the excise duties yielded for the United Kingdom more than twice as much as the customs duties. In 1821 the excise duties reached to 27,400,3001., which is the highest sum they ever attained. In 1845 they were again reduced to the amount at which they stood in 1797, a little above 11,000,0001.
In 1835 the number of traders in the United Kingdom who were surveyed periodi cally by excise officers was 588,000. The cost
of these surveys in England alone amounted to 533,9021. ; but since 1835 several of these surveys have been abolished.
The net produce of the excise duties, in the year ending October 10, 1850, was 12,913,1021. Under the names of the exciseable articles are given in this work a few statistical details concerning the duties.
Prior to 1623 there were separate and in dependent Boards of Excise for England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the total number of the excise commissioners was twenty-one. The business is now better conducted by seven commissioners, and by one board in London. The commissioners hold courts and decide summarily in case of the infraction of the excise laws. The number of persons em ployed at the chief excise office in London is about five hundred, while those employed in different parts of the country are about four thousand For the management of the business of the excise department the whole of the United Kingdom is divided into collections, and these are subdivided into districts, rides, and divi sions. There are fifty five collections in Eng land and Wales, exclusive of the London col lection, and at the head of each is a collector, who visits the principal towns in his circuit eight times a year to receive the duties and transact other business connected with the department; besides which he is required to have an eye generally upon the discipline and efficiency of the service. The number of offi cers in a collection varies from forty to ninety. The next subdivision of a collection is the district, at the head of which is a supervisor. Next come the subdivisions of the districts into rides and divisions, or foot-walks. Where the traders are scattered, the officer is obliged to keep a horse, and his circuit is called a ride; but, if a large number of traders reside in a smaller circuit, they are visited by the officer on foot, and then each portion is termed a division or footwalk. Before going out each day, the officer leaves a memorandum at his home which states the places he intends to survey, and the order in which he will visit them ; and the exact time at which he com mences each must be entered in his journal. The supervisor resurveys some of the officer's surveys ; but which they will be the officer is of course ignorant; and if errors are disco vered they must be entered in the supervi sor's diary. These diaries are transmitted to the chief office every two months, and no offi cer is promoted unless the diaries show him to be efficient. The periodical removal of officers from one part of the country to ano ther was Mr. Pitt's suggestion, and is still acted upon : about 1100 officers change their residence yearly. At the chief office in Lon don there is a department of Surveying-Gene ral Examiners, who are despatched to any district without previous intimation, as a check upon the accuracy and integrity of the super visors. Promotions take place in the excise department after a certain fixed period in each grade, and only then when the officer petitions for advancement. This involves a rigid examination into his qualifications, which is termed 'taking out a character.'