Pitt's Reforms Flashcards
What were the indirect taxes used by Pitt?
- taxes on luxurious items enjoyed by the upper class, i.e. wigs and hair powder
- taxes on working class via candles
What was the result of the indirect taxes used by Pitt?
- income to treasury increased by £4 million by 1793
What was the window tax? What was the response to this?
- tax on windows
- upper class would ridicule it and brick up their windows
What was the Sinking Fund? What did it do in the short-term?
- reduced debt via taxation
- reduced national debt by £10 million by 1793
- £1mn paid into it each year
How effective was the Sinking Fund in the long term?
- not popular during war time with France
- repealed in 1816
What was a major issue surrounding trade?
- smuggling: bringing goods into the country illegally to avoid tariffs
What was the excise bill?
- made tobacco and spirits untaxed to avoid the smuggling of it
What was the Commutation Act?
- reduced tax on tea
What was the Hovering Act?
- smuggling vessels searched for up to 12 miles out to sea and confiscated
What policy did Pitt believe in, in regards to trade?
Free Trade - exchange of goods without tariffs
Who is Adam Smith?
- founder of policy of free trade
- founder of modern day capitalism
What and when was the Consolidation Act?
- 1787: simplified taxes to make them easier to collect
What was the old taxation system based off of before the Consolidation Act?
- mercantilism
What were the consequences of the Consolidation Act?
- at first, revenue from taxes decreased
- but the volume of legitimate trade increased
What was put in place to ensure all Trading Acts were in place?
the Board of Trade
What and when was the Eden Treaty? Why was this short lived?
- reduced tariffs on goods exchanged by Britain and France
- short lived due to the war
-1786
How effective was Pitt in reforming trade?
- effective: got what he wanted; increasing the value of imports to remove smuggling
What were the issues with the British Administration?
- there was a lot of waste that had to be removed to save money as the government was inefficient
What was the India Act? When was this passed?
- 1784
- restricted the exclusive powers the East India Trading Company had over the British empire
What was put in place to monitor the East India Trading Company?
the Board of Control
What was the result of the India Act?
- the EITC still had a lot of political and economical stakes over the area
What did Pitt refuse and then abolish, in order to save money?
- the Clerkship of the Pells, which would’ve given £3000 a year
- sinecure offices
- to save money
What was the Consolidated Fund?
- at the Bank of England
- where taxes were paid into
- where government funds came from
What was the Audit Office?
- used to oversee public expenditure and curb corruption
What did Pitt make to prevent money being wasted on stationary?
Central Stationary Department
and free post
Overall, how efficient was Pitt at reforming the British Administration?
- somewhat
- he did make the administration more efficient and reduce the amount of money wasted
- faced opposition from MPs who benefited from the corruption within government
-thus, Pitt couldn’t go to far with it as he needed the aristocratic MPs to support him
What is mercantilism?
method of trade regulation which involved a complex system of tariffs on imports and exports
