Expenditures of the Russo-Japanese war / by Gotaro Ogawa.

144 ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

occupied roughly 40 per cent as against 60 per cent of the
former in the fiscal year 1904-5 (as the result of the first increase of taxation), while the proportion in the following years
was 60 per cent of the increased parts as against 40 per cent of
the principal parts (as the result of the first and second increase
of taxation). Thus, the yields from the additional rates of
the taxes became far larger than the amount from the principal rates. Therefore, our revenues from receipt taxes far
more than doubled as the result of the war-time increase of
taxation. The per capita burden of receipt taxes was 1.303
yen in the fiscal year previous to the war. The tax increases
added to it 0.714 yen, 1.454 yen, and 1.555 yen in the three
following years, so that the burden per capita successively
rose to 1.849 yen, 2.522 yen, and 2.648 yen, or more than twice
the amount before the war.
In short, the war-time increase of taxes on receipts came to
represent 60 per cent of total revenues from these taxes.
This was certainly a very sudden and heavy increase of burden.
We must consider, therefore, what changes the increased
taxation produced in the taxes on receipts. The land valuation, which forms the basis of assessment for the land tax, was
determined in 1884. During the twenty years that had
elapsed after this date, the utility of land underwent a remarkable change with the development of national economy.
As a consequence, there was a general and extraordinary rise
in land value, though the extent of the rise was different in
different localities. But the same rate of land tax remained
in force, which meant a comparatively slight levy in some
places and an intolerable burden in others. In spite of this
inequality, the rate was raised, taking practically no account
of these changed conditions. Hence, it cannot be doubted
that the inequality in the burden of this tax became very
serious.
The business taxes, which are placed on the income from
business as the land tax is levied on income from land, were
assessed, for the sake of convenient collection, on the conditions of various businesses and not on income from them. In