W.A. Hunter. The chair was occupied by an ex-Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr. Childers.[75] The Commission sat for two years, and
carried out a most searching investigation. They reported in 1896.
Their united Report consists of only two pages in the Blue Book,[76]
and the essence of it is contained in five short paragraphs, as
follows:--
(1) That Great Britain and Ireland must, for the purpose of
this inquiry, be considered as separate entities.
(2) That the Act of Union imposed upon Ireland a burden which,
as events showed, she was unable to bear.
(3) That the increase of taxation laid upon Ireland between
1853 and 1860 was not justified by the then existing
circumstances.
(4) That identity of rates of taxation does not necessarily
involve equality of burden.
(5) That whilst the actual tax revenue of Ireland is about
one-eleventh of that of Great Britain, the relative taxable
capacity of Ireland is very much smaller, and is not estimated
by any of us as exceeding one-twentieth.
Now, what does this amount to? As worked out in the various minority
reports, it means that, in the opinion of this Commission, Ireland has
been over-taxed for many years at the rate of over L2,000,000 a year.
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