ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the problem of personal expenditure; but only a portion of each person's income, be the portion large or small, is at disposal of the individual to spend, to save, or to give. A portion of it, in these days a very large proportion, is intercepted by the State, either directly in the form of a Demand Note from the Inland Revenue or the local authority; or indirectly by a tax upon commodities in general use. In 1849 regular estimates for the civil service were, for the first time, presented to Parliament, and national expenditure was thus finally differentiated from the personal expenses of the sovereign. If the State can, by its fiscal system, or curtail unproductive expenditure and divert the money thus obtained into productive channels, the benefit is unquestionable. The fiscal system should be equitable as between individuals, as little burden-some as may be to trade, and above all encouraging to enterprise and to thrift.
