There can be little doubt that the Chancellor of the
Ex- chequer, alarmed at the falling-off of the revenue, did quietly tell Income-tax collectors to put on the screw. We hear from all sides of surcharges, and so numerous were they at Brighton, that Mr. Ashbury contrived on Thursday to extract an admission from Sir S. Northcote, that out of 3,121 persons assessed there under Schedule D, nearly half, or 1,451, were surcharged. Of these, 1,190 acquiesced, and 261 appealed, of whom only 36 were entirely let off. The additional assessment was £206,007. The Treasury, of course, argue that the absence of appeals shows that the sur- charges were correct, but that is not the case. The great majority of Income-tax payers will rather bear an unfair surcharge than go through the worry, and loss of time, and exposure of poverty involved in an appeal, while a very great number have no means of proving by documents their exact incomes. A little oppres- sion will therefore always bring in a good deal of extra money.
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