Taxes proper are divided into (a) taxes on business transactions and (b) taxes on articles of consumption. The former apply principally to successions, stamps, registrations, mortgages, &c.; the latter to distilleries, breweries, explosives, native sugar and matches, though the customs revenue and octrois upon articles of general consumption, such as corn, wine, spirits, meat, flour, petroleum, butter, tea, coffee and sugar, may be considered as belonging to this class. The monopolies are those of salt, tobacco and the lottery.
Since 1880, while income from the salt and lotto monopolies has remained almost stationary, and that from land tax and octroi has diminished, revenue derived from all other sources has notably increased, especially that from the income tax on personal estate, and the customs, the yield from which has been nearly doubled.
It will be seen that the revenue is swollen by a large number of taxes which can only be justified by necessity; the reduction and, still more, the readjustment of taxation (which now largely falls on articles of primary necessity) is urgently needed. The government in presenting the estimates for 1907-1908 proposed to set aside a sum of nearly £800,000 every year for this express purpose. It must be remembered that the sums realized by the octroi go in the main to the various communes. It is only in Rome and Naples that the octroi is collected directly by the government, which pays over a certain proportion to the respective communes.
The external taxation is not only strongly protectionist, but is applied to goods which cannot be made in Italy; hardly anything comes in duty free, even such articles as second-hand furniture paying duty, unless within six months of the date at which the importer has declared domicile in Italy. The application, too, is somewhat rigorous, e.g. the tax on electric light is applied to foreign ships generating their own electricity while lying in Italian ports.
The annual consumption per inhabitant of certain kinds of food and drink has considerably increased, e.g. grain from 270 lb. per head in 1884-1885 to 321 lb. in 1901-1902 (maize remains almost stationary at 158 lb.); wine from 73 to 125 litres per head; oil from 12 to 13 lb. per head (sugar is almost stationary at 7¼ lb. per head, and coffee at about 1 lb.); salt from 14 to 16 lb. per head. Tobacco slightly diminished in weight at a little over 1 lb. per head, while the gross receipts are considerably increased--by over 2¼ millions sterling since 1884-1885--showing that the quality consumed is much better. The annual expenditure on tobacco was 5s. per inhabitant in 1902-1903, and is increasing.