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Peter Clarke highlights a largely forgotten relationship between two significant events in Irish history around the 1850s, namely the Great Famine and the imposition of income tax on Ireland.
EXPENDITURE AND THE FAMINE
Income tax was introduced in England in 1799 as a temporary measure to fond the Napoleonic War. While the unpopular legislation was repealed in 1816, one year after the Battle ofWaterloo, it was reintroduced in 1842 to finance commercial reforms and address the budgetary deficit. The legislation did not apply to Ireland, however, despite the passing of the Act of Union, which united Ireland with Britain in 1801.
At that time, Ireland's widespread poverty was widely acknowledged. In 1841, the Census Commissioners reported that 43% of the Irish population was "living in the lowest state in cabins consisting of but a single room". Some relief was provided by the Irish Poor Law Act (1838), which established the workhouse system to help those who were completely destitute. This system was developed to cater for about 100,000 people and was utterly overwhelmed when, in 1845, a new strain of blight attacked the potato crop on which the majority of the Irish population depended. The result was the Great Irish Famine.
The Government's response to the Famine consisted mainly of workhouses, public works such as cash for work schemes and, subsequently, soup kitchens as detailed in the Temporary Relief Act. However, the Poor Law Extension Act (1847) subsequently specified that responsibility for future famine expenditure would no longer be the responsibility of the Treasury but would instead be financed from local fonds.
Unfortunately, famine and distress conditions continued in 1848 and 1849 with disastrous consequences. Poor Law unions slid further into debt and eventually, the Chief Commissioner of the Irish Poor Law system resigned on the grounds that the widespread destitution in Ireland, coupled with the indifference of the House of Commons, meant that he was placed in a position that...