An Analysis of Government Revenue and Expenditure in ... - TARA

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different accounts. The figures for the latest year are based on
estimates in certain cases.
Both current receipts and expenditure rose steadily from 1953-54
to 1957-58 but in 1958-59 current receipts increased by only £3
million while current expenditure was about the same as in 1957-58.
On the other hand there are marked variations in capital receipts
and expenditure which are partly due to the fact that in some years
certain of the public corporations borrowed directly from the
public instead of obtaining their finances through the central
government.
The amount received from taxes on income and capital has not
altered appreciably since 1955-56 but receipts from taxes on
expenditure show a marked upward trend. The other items of
receipts also show increasing trends, except investment income
from abroad which declined steadily over the period as a result of
the sales of sterling securities.
The most notable feature of the current expenditure figures is
the increasing importance of transfer payments in total current
expenditure. While expenditure on subsidies did not alter
appreciably over the six-year period, an upward trend in the years
1953-54 to 1956-57 being reversed in the later period, all other
transfer payments (except land bond interest) show marked
increases. In fact the aggregate of national debt interest, other
current transfer payments and grants to local authorities increased
from £50-0 million in 1953-54 to £65-5 million in 1958-59, and in
that year constituted about 54 per cent, of current expenditure by
central government. In contrast, expenditure on current goods and
services increased by only £3 million from £40*9 million in 1953-54
to £43-9 million in 1958-59. Final expenditure by the central
government was responsible, therefore, for an increase of only
£3 million of the total increase of £19 million in current expenditure
on the six-year period.
National debt interest and land bond interest rose from £8-8
million in 1953-54 to £13*6 million in 1958-59. In considering the
burden of this debt attention must be directed to the income from
trading and investments which (after deducting that part of the
land annuities paid by the Exchequer) rose from £10-1 million to
£15*1 million. The position revealed by these figures is altered
considerably when the local authorities are taken into account as
will be seen later.
The balance on current account less taxes on capital can be
regarded as government savings before provision for depreciation
and the amount varied from £3*8 milion in 1953-54 to £9-3 million
in 1958-59. Lest these figures may impart too encouraging a
picture of the central government finances it is necessary to repeat
that no allowance for government depreciation has been made in
these accounts. It is evident that net government savings after
allowance for depreciation would be lower than the figures just
quoted by the depreciation of government owned fixed assets.
Expenditure on gross physical capital formation by central government
has not exceeded £6 million per year in recent years and it
would appear likely that annual depreciation does not exceed this
amount, so that net central government savings would still be a