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

148 ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR

taxes was not so heavy as in the case of taxes on receipts. But
when it is remembered that the burden of consumption taxes
falls primarily upon the lower classes, who have small ability
to bear taxation, the conclusion is that the increased burden
was heavier in the case of consumption taxes than in that of
taxes on receipts.
Taxes on transactions
As regards taxes on traffic, the registration tax, stamp duties
and other stamp revenues, and the exchange tax were raised,
while the transit duties and inheritance tax were newly
created. Table C at end of this chapter1 shows the taxes for
the years 1903-8.
As set forth in the foregoing pages, the revenues from the
war-time increases of taxation represented some 50 per cent
of the total tax revenues. Of the incomes from taxes on
receipts, 60 per cent came from the rate increases, while the
rate increases contributed 40 per cent of the incomes in the
case of taxes on consumption and taxes on traffic. The wartime increase of taxation was the heaviest on the receipt taxes,
while it was light on the taxes on consumption and communications and acts. However, when the question is considered
from the viewpoint of tax-bearing ability, apart from mere
figures, the 40 per cent of increased consumption taxes, which
fell on the lower classes with no property, was by no means
light, but, in comparison, was much heavier than the 60 per
cent of the increased taxes on receipts, which fell primarily on
the well-to-do classes. When the growth of tax revenues is
considered, comparing the index numbers before the war with
those after the war, it is found that as against 207, to which
the total tax revenues rose in I906-7, the yields from taxes on
receipts recorded 210.3 in the same fiscal year, which was a
very small rise considering the heavy increase imposed-a
rise not much different from the same recorded by the other
groups, namely, the taxes on consumption and taxes on comlPost, p 158.