Supposing the Bill to have passed, the account of the Exchequer in Ireland would have stood thus:--
1. _Imperial Taxes_: (1) Customs . . . . . . . . . . £1,880,000 (2) Excise . . . . . . . . . . 4,300,000 --------- £6,180,000
2. _Local Taxes_: (1) Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . £600,000 (2) Income-Tax at 6_d_. in £ . . 550,000 --------- £1,150,000
3. _Non-Tax Revenue_: (Post Office, Telegraph, etc.) . . . . . £1,020,000 ---------- £8,350,000
1. _Contribution to Imperial Exchequer_ on basis of 1/15th of Imperial Expenditure, viz.: (1) Debt Charge . . . . . . . . £1,466,000 (2) Army and Navy . . . . . . . 1,666,000 (3) Civil Charges . . . . . . . 110,000 --------- £3,242,000 2. _Sinking Fund_ on 1/15th of Capital of Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360,000 3. _Charge for Constabulary_[14] . . . . . . . 1,000,000 4. _Local Civil Charges_ other than Constabulary . . . . . . . . . 2,510,000 5. _Collection of Revenue_: (1) Imperial Taxes . . . . . . £170,000 (2) Local Taxes . . . . . . . . 60,000 (3) Non-Tax Revenue . . . . . . 604,000 ------- 834,000 6. _Balance_ or Surplus . . . . . . . . . . . . 404,000 -------- £8,350,000
The Imperial contribution payable by Ireland to Great Britain cannot be increased for thirty years, though it may be diminished if the charges for the army and navy and Imperial civil expenditure for any year be less than fifteen times the contribution paid by Ireland, in which case 1/15th of the diminution will be deducted from the annual Imperial contribution. Apart from the Imperial charges there are other charges strictly Irish, for the security of the payment of which the Bill provides. This it does by imposing an obligation on the Irish legislative body to enact sufficient taxes to meet such charges, and by directing them to be paid by the Imperial Receiver-General, who is required to keep an imperial and an Irish account, carrying the customs and excise duties, in the first instance, to the imperial account, and the local taxes to the Irish account, transferring to the Irish account the surplus remaining after paying the imperial charges on the imperial account. On this Irish account are charged debts due from the Government of Ireland, pensions, and other sums due to the civil servants, and the salaries of the judges of the supreme courts in Ireland.