Some of the provisions of this scheme are of exceptional interest. If it
had ever been in operation the plan, for example, of adjusting the
payments from one exchequer to the other in the event of changes being
enacted by the Imperial Parliament in the Excise duties must have been
fruitful of difficulties and created much friction. If the duties had
been reduced there might have been an increased consumption. Who can say
how much of the revenue lost to the Irish Exchequer in the event of a
reduction of duties would have been due to the reduced rates of duty,
and how much had been regained by increased consumption. Again, if the
Excise duties had been increased, as in the Budget of 1909, to such a
degree that the total revenue at the higher duty was less than the total
revenue from the lower duty, who could have determined whether this was
a case requiring a payment from the Irish to the British Exchequer, or
from the British to the Irish Exchequer.
Perhaps the most striking novelty of the first scheme of 1893 was the
retention of the Customs duties in lieu of Ireland's contribution to
Imperial Services.
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