The Public Revenue & the Public Debt.

[From the S. A. Advertiser of May 28, 1884.]

A reference to a table which appears in another portion of this issue will afford some insight into the curious and irregular manner in which the debt of South Australia has been accumulated The period included in it is thirty years, dating from 1854, when we first sought the assistance of foreign capital to develop the resources of the province, down to the end of 1882-3. For greater convenience of comparison the different changes which have been made in the time for opening and closing the financial year have not been noted, because if that had been done the calculations would have been considerably increased, whilst the general result would not have been at all affected. It will be seen that in five years only, namely, 1854-'55 and '56, and 1865 and '66, has our revenue exceeded our debt. The singular fluctuations which are apparent between the annual resources of the colony and the debt which has been generally accumulating, give evidence of the fact that in borrowing money from year to year the condition of our revenue, actual or prospective, has seldom, if ever, been taken into consideration. In other words the debts as contracted were never measured or controlled by the annual income, out of which the principal was to be repaid, and the interest supplied. Our revenue at the beginning of the term was something under £600,000, at its close it was over £2,000,000. The debt at the outset of I the period was £135,000, at its termination £13,908,700. To put the case simply—in the first year the debt was less than one-fourth of our revenue, in the last it was about six times as great as the revenue. What it will be in another two or three years may easily be foreseen.

During the whole of this time no special provision has been made to meet such contingencies as occasional serious fallings off in the amount of our income. Such accidents have not only not stopped us from resorting to the English money market, but in some instances deficiencies have actually been provided for by means of loans Besides this the revenue has been swelled on various occasions by additional Customs taxes, which to the largest extent were borne by the working classes, because the increased duties were placed upon articles that were necessaries and in common consumption. This expedient cannot be resorted to anyfurther. For some years past the most serious dissatisfaction has been expressed at the partial and onesided manner in which the colonial revenue has been raised. Those who hitherto paid all the taxes could get no relief in any direction, yet at the same time the public burdens were added to in a reckless manner, because those who were most interested in land practically swayed the destinies of the colony. It is for their benefit and mainly at their instigation that our public debt has grown to its present magnitude. Whilst those who have demanded railways, water supply, main roads, aid to district councils and corporations, schools, bridges, and the numberless wants which are continually pressed on the Government—the cost of which comes from the public coffers—have never troubled themselves to enquire how they were to be paid for or who was to pay. We have now before us a cash deficiency of something like £280,000 to provide for, and the only way of doing this is to confiscate as much of the unexpended balances as may be available at the close of the year, and to look out for some sources of revenue other than that at our command just now. Without having special regard to the deficiency at this moment we need only look to our obligation in respect of our debt, which must be met under any circumstances. The interest alone, including the bonds recently sold in London, will amount for 1884-5 to £637,325. Six per cent. bonds to the amount of £53,400 will mature during the year and must be retired The total sum payable for the public debt will thus amount to £690,727. This will absorb the whole of the Customs revenue, or an equivalent amount, even if the estimate made for this year should be realised, which is not at all probable, with nearly £73,000 to boot. It may be asserted as a matter of certainty that in the course of the coming session the Parliament will be asked to authorise further loans to construct certain lines of railway and other works to which the Government and many of the new members stand committed. It may also confidently be expected that the Legislative Council will accept the recommendations of the House of Assembly as far as the greater part of these may be concerned. It is by no means certain, however, that they will be as ready to tax page 12 themselves by passing a land tax as they have been and are likely to be willing to take advantage of the State expenditure on works which help to swell the value of their possessions. Lest session they refused to agree to a tax equal to a halfpenny in the pound. The figures which we have quoted above point very clearly to the conclusion that that amount will not go far either towards making up the existing deficiency or providing for the newly-created liabilities; but unless they have been taught something by the results of the recent general election the members of our Upper Chamber are not likely to be more compliant this year than they were last year.

It is abundantly clear that the colony cannot be brought to a standstill because property-owners do not choose to recognise either the obligations they owe to the country or the amount of those obligations. The actual sum spent on works which have benefited private estates generally is really but a small portion of the sacrifices which the masses have been compelled to make, and which are still demanded from them, in order to meet the huge debt, in the application of which they have had no share The debt itself, including the bonds just placed on the market, may be taken at £15,508,700. For this there has already been paid as interest £4,580,313 We have already taken from the people in Customs duties £8,934,366. The two amounts—that is the Customs duties and the interest—taken together make the sum of £13,514,679, which nearly equals the amount of the colonial debt at the end of last year, viz., £13,908,700. The expenditure of the first of these amounts has brought no advantage whatever to the individual taxpayer. It represents a constant steady drain upon his personal resources. It is not counted or measured so as to touch all men alike, but the drain is the greater according as his means are small and his family large. It may be true that the laborer does not pay as much towards the Customs as a clerk or person who possesses an income of a few hundreds a year—but he pays more in proportion, because he can afford only to touch bare necessaries. The indulgence in the small luxuries and comforts of furniture in his case must be confined to such articles as are absolutely indispensable—ornaments and decorations even of the most common description being quite beyond his means. And so in the same way the mechanic, clerk, or the one who has a few hundreds per year, pays more than those who own the land, who monopolise it, who enjoy and profit by the public expenditure upon it. The £13,500,000 taken from the majority in the shape of taxes and interest has disappeared as completely as raindrops disappear in a stream. The £13,900 000 of borrowed money spent on works is ever bringing more and more into the coffers of the wealthy, who have not earned it, who have contributed nothing towards it, except their personal influence to make it greater from year to year. It seems a monstrous thing that the poorer classes should be plundered in the course of a single generation of thirteen millions and a half of money in order that the landed interest should enjoy the exclusive profits of £13,900,000 besides, which has been raised at the cost of the former class, in addition to the sum that has been unjustly and improvidently taken from them and their families, So long as such a state of things is permitted to obtain, for so long must the hope of any fair adjustment of the incidence of taxation be deferred. The present session must bring the question to a practical issue. Should the Legislative Council again prove to be obstructive another general election, in which honorable gentlemen" will be included, will show definitely whether the people will be content to be trifled with in the future as they have been in the past.