1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Revenue

​REVENUE (O. Fr. revenu, from revenir, to return), income, return, or profit; more particularly the receipts from all sources of a government or state. The revenue of a state is largely made up of taxation, and the general principles of taxes are discussed in Taxation and Finance. In some countries the public or state domain may contribute substantially to the revenue, as do the crown forests in Russia, while in other countries important contributions are made from the state railways, post and telegraph services, &c. For the historical development of the English revenue see English Finance, and for other countries see the sections on nuance in the articles dealing with the various countries. In the United Kingdom the term inland revenue is used to denote that part of the revenue which is derived from death duties, stamps and other taxes, such as income tax, land tax, inhabited house duty, &c. The Board of Inland Revenue is a special department of the English civil service, with headquarters at Somerset House. The Board consists of a chairman, deputy chairman, and two commissioners, with joint secretaries, assistant secretaries and a staff of officials. The other important department engaged in the collection of the English revenue is the Board of Customs and Excise. The excise department was formerly a branch of the inland revenue, but was amalgamated with the customs department on the 1st of April 1909. The Board of Customs and Excise is constituted as is the Board of Inland Revenue.

In the United States the greater proportion of the national revenue ($547,086,992 out of $663,217,677 in 1909) is derived from customs and internal revenue. The internal revenue consists for the most part of receipts from taxes on spirits, tobaccos and fermented liquors. In 1909 the amount derived from customs revenue was $300,977,438, and internal revenue, $246,109,554.