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EXCISE (derived through the Dutch, ex...

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 59 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EXCISE (derived through the Dutch, excijs or accijs, possibly from See also:Late See also:Lat. accensare,—ad, to, and See also:census, tax; the word owes something to a confusion with excisum, cut out) , a See also:term now well known in public See also:finance, signifying a See also:duty charged on See also:home goods, either in the See also:process of their manufacture, or before their See also:sale to the home consumers. This See also:form of See also:taxation implies a See also:commonwealth somewhat advanced in manufactures, markets and See also:general riches; and it interferes so directly with the See also:industry and See also:liberty of the subject that it has seldom beenintroduced See also:save in some supreme See also:financial exigency, and has as seldom been See also:borne, even after See also:long usage, with less than the See also:ordinary impatience of taxation. Yet excise duties can boast a respectable antiquity, having a distinct parallel in the vectigal reruns venalium (or See also:toll levied on all commodities sold by See also:auction, or in public See also:market) of the See also:Romans. But the See also:Roman excise was mild compared with that of See also:modern nations, having never been more than centesima, or 1%, of the value; and it was much shorter lived than the modern examples, having been first imposed by See also:Augustus, reduced for a See also:time one-See also:half by Tiberius, and finally abolished by Caligula, A.D. 38, so that the Roman excise cannot have had a duration of much more than half a See also:century. Its remission must have been deemed a See also:great boon in the marts of See also:Rome, since it was commemorated by fhe issue of small See also:brass coins with the See also:legend Remissis Centesimis, specimens of which are still to be found in collections. . The See also:history of this See also:branch of See also:revenue in the See also:United See also:Kingdom See also:dates from the See also:period of the See also:civil See also:wars, when the republican See also:government, following the example of See also:Holland, established, as a means of defraying the heavy See also:expenditure of the time, various duties of excise, which the royalists when restored to See also:power found too convenient or too necessary to be abandoned, notwithstanding their origin and their general unpopularity. On the contrary, they were destined to be steadily increased both in number and in amount. It is curious that the first commodities selected for excise were those on which this branch of taxation, after great See also:extension, had again in the period of reform and See also:free See also:trade been in a manner permanently reduced, viz. See also:malt liquors, and such kindred beverages as See also:cider See also:perry and spruce See also:beer. The other excise duties remaining are chiefly in the form of licences, such as to kill See also:game and to use and carry guns, to sell See also:gold and See also:silver See also:plate, to pursue the business of appraisers or auctioneers, See also:hawkers or pedlars, pawnbrokers or patent-See also:medicine vendors, to manufacture See also:tobacco or See also:snuff, to See also:deal in sweets or in See also:foreign wines, to make See also:vinegar, to roast malt, or to use a still in See also:chemistry or otherwise. It may be presumed that the policy of the See also:licence duties was at first not so much to collect revenue, though in the aggregate they yielded a large sum, as to guard the See also:main See also:sources of excise, and to See also:place certain classes of dealers, by See also:registration and an See also:annual See also:payment to the See also:exchequer, under a.See also:direct legal responsibility. The excise See also:system of the United Kingdom as now pruned and reformed, however, while still the most prolific of all the sources of revenue, is See also:simple in process, and is contentedly borne as compared with what was the See also:case in the 18th, and the beginning of the 19th century.

The wars with See also:

Bonaparte strained the government resources to the uttermost, and excise duties were multiplied and increased in every practicable form. Bricks, candles, See also:calico prints, See also:glass, hides and skins, See also:leather, See also:paper, See also:salt, See also:soap, and other commodities of home manufacture and See also:consumption were placed, with their respective See also:industries, under excise surveillance and See also:fine. When the duties could no longer be increased in number, they were raised in See also:rate. The duty on See also:British See also:spirits, which had begun at a few pence per See also:gallon in 166o, See also:rose step by step to r Is. 84d. per gallon in 182o; and the duty on salt was augmented to three or fourfold its value. The old unpopularity of excise, though now somewhat out of date, must have had real enough grounds. It breaks out in See also:English literature, from songs and pasquinades to See also:grave See also:political essays and legal commentaries. See also:Blackstone, in quoting the See also:declaration of See also:parliament in 1649 that " excise is the most easy and indifferent See also:levy that can be laid upon the See also:people," adds on his own authority that " from its first See also:original to the See also:present time its very name has been odious to the people of See also:England " (See also:book i. cap. 8, tenth edition, 1786) ; while the See also:definition of " excise " gravely inserted by Dr See also:Johnson in the See also:Dictionary, at the imminent See also:risk of subjecting the eminent author to a See also:prosecution for libel—viz. "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the See also:common See also:judges of See also:property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid"—can hardly be ever forgotten. The duties of excise in the United Kingdom were, until the passing of the Finance See also:Act 1908, under the See also:control of the commissioners of inland revenue; they are now under the control of the commissioners of customs; the amount raised, apart from changes in the rate, shows a fairly See also:constant tendency to increase, and is usually regarded as one of the best tests of the prosperity of the working classes. The spirit duty is levied according to the quantity of " See also:proof spirit " contained in the product of See also:distillation, and the See also:charge is taken at three different points in the process of manufacture, the trader being liable for the result of the highest of the three calculations.

What is known as " proof spirit " is obtained by mixing nearly equal weights of pure See also:

alcohol and See also:water, the quantity of pure alcohol being in bulk about 57 % of the whole. Owing to the high rate of duty as compared with the See also:volume and See also:intrinsic value of the spirits, the whole process of manufacture is carried on under the See also:close supervision of revenue officials. All the vessels used are measured by them and are secured with revenue locks; the premises are under constant survey; and See also:notice has to be given by the distiller of the materials used and of the several stages of his operations. Though the charge for duty is raised at the' time when the process of distillation is completed, the duty is not actually paid until the spirits are required for consumption. In the meanwhile they may be retained in an approved " warehouse," which is also subject to close supervision. The beer duty dates from 188o, in which See also:year it was substituted for the duty on malt. The specific gravity of the worts depends chiefly on the amount of See also:sugar which they contain, and is ascertained by the saccharometer. Excise licences may be divided into—(a) licences for the sale or manufacture of excisable liquors, (b) licences for other trades, such as tobacco dealers or manufacturers, auctioneers, See also:pawn-brokers, &c., (c) licences for male servants, carriages, See also:motors and armorial See also:bearings, and (d) See also:gun, game and See also:dog licences. Nearly the whole of the licence duties is paid over to the See also:local taxation See also:account. The railway passenger duty, which was made an excise duty by the Railway Passenger Duty Act 1847, applies only to Great See also:Britain. It is levied on all passenger fares exceeding Id. per mile, the rate being 2% on See also:urban and 5% on other See also:traffic. The other items which go to make up the excise revenue are the charges on deliveries from bonded warehouses, and the duties on See also:coffee mixture labels and on See also:chicory.

For more detailed See also:

information reference should be made to Highmore's Excise See also:Laws, and the annual reports of the commissioners of inland revenue, especially those issued in 187o and 1885. See also TAXATION; ENGLISH FINANCE.

End of Article: EXCISE (derived through the Dutch, excijs or accijs, possibly from Late Lat. accensare,—ad, to, and census, tax; the word owes something to a confusion with excisum, cut out)

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