asked the Minister for Finance whether he will indicate the net yield (1) of 1d. per packet on cigarettes and tobacco and (2) of 1d. per pint on beer and stout in the financial years 1947 to 1951, inclusive.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Yield of Tobacco, Beer and Stout Taxes.
The tobacco and beer duties are, in the main, charges on raw materials rather than on manufactured commodities as sold to the public and official statistics are compiled on that basis. Consequently, only approximate estimates can be given of the produce of duties corresponding to 1d. on 20 "popular" sized cigarettes and 1d. on a pint of beer, respectively.
With this reservation, it is estimated that the average produce for the years 1947-48 to 1951-52 of a duty corresponding to 1d. per 20 cigarettes was £1,250,000 and that the average produce of a beer duty corresponding to 1d. per pint was £1,470,000. I should emphasise, however, that these figures relate to a static position in regard to rates of duty and that any change upward in such rates would vitiate certain conclusions which might be drawn by uninformed persons from these simple averages.
Can the Minister say what percentage of the £1,250,000 referred to will find its way into the pockets of the shareholders of the Imperial Tobacco Company?
No part of it, Sir. This question relates to duty. The Deputy should address his question to the Prices Advisory Body.