L
New South Wales 5,621,958 3,326,276
Victoria 3,750,161 1,987,435
Queensland 1,989,540 1,027,047
South Australia 1,307,621 716,957
Western Australia 1,166,126 627,938
Tasmania 515,387 244,747
-------------------------------
Total Common- Total
wealth Revenue. Repayments.
--------------------------------
14,350,793 7,930,395
-----------------------------------------------------------

Here are the details of revenue for 1908-1909 in the richest and the
poorest State, respectively:

Particulars. New South Wales. Tasmania.
L L
Refunded by the Commonwealth 3,377,213 232,342
Taxation (direct) 907,249 250,835
Public Works and Services 7,309,062 329,192
Land 1,778,002 96,519
Miscellaneous 274,600 25,017

Totals 13,646,126 934,405

Now, Ireland raises no public revenues at all from Public Works, only
L24,500 out of a total of ten millions from public lands; while 29.25
per cent, of her "true" tax revenue comes from direct taxation and 70.75
per cent, from Customs and Excise. To take away even a third of her
receipts from Customs and Excise would be to leave her with a deficit of
three millions and a half, which would have to be made up by additions
to a direct taxation, which is already vastly higher than in any part of
Australia. She needs every penny of her revenue from whatever source
derived, and there is no possibility of extracting from her a
contribution to Imperial services, unless it be an illusory contribution
based on faked figures.

The real moral to be derived from the Australian comparison is that both
Australia and Ireland are countries where accumulated wealth is
comparatively small, and where the importance of indirect taxation is
very great. All the more reason for giving Ireland control of her own
indirect taxation. Canada, and, indeed, all the self-governing Colonies,
suggest the same moral. In Canada the Federal or Dominion Parliament has
an unlimited power of taxation