168 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

Estimated Expenditure for 1938-1939*

Civil:- £

Central Government and Finance . 2,542,000

Foreign and Imperial. . . . 10,270,000

Home Department, Law and Justice . 28,096,000

Education..... 61,847,000

Health, Pensions, Unemployment . 172,331,000

Trade, Industry, Transport . . 40,646,000

Works, Stationery, etc. . . . 11,692,000^

War Pensions, etc..... 43,094,000

Grants to Local Authorities . . 54,248,000

Margin for Supplementary Estimates . 10,000,000

Tax Collection..... 14,284,000

TOTAL CIVIL .....449,050,060

TOTAL SUPPLY SERVICES . . . . . 702,298,000
TOTAL EXPENDITURE.....944»398>ooo

Comparison with the Revenue figures will show a small
estimated surplus of £352,000.

The huge payment caused by the National Debt should be
notifced. By far the greater part of it is required for interest,
though in 1938-9 about £40,000,000 was available for repay-
ment. Since both interest and repayment go to people in this
country, the real burden of taxation is less than appears from the
accounts. Expenditure on the Armed Forces has been increasing
for some years, and to the Budget total must be added another
£90,000,000 which is to be borrowed, just as £65,000,000 was
borrowed for the same purpose in the previous year. This
alarming tendency to strain national resources for armaments
can be noticed in the Budgets' of nearly every country in the
world; it is the symptom of a serious defect in the Government
of mankind. The Social Services have grown considerably since
the War; they benefit chiefly the poorer section of the people
and can be set against the indirect taxation falling on that section.
The £14,000,000 spent on collecting taxes cannot be considered
extravagant, since it is less than 2% of the total collected. That
total, not far short of £900,000,000, is about one-fifth of the
wealth produced in the United Kingdom each year.