The budget of 1925-26 was drawn up soon after the prevalence of Pangalos in July 1925. Expenditure was balanced with revenue, which according to calculations reached 7,020,000,000 drachmae. Until April 1926, however, expenditure had a lead of one billion. The estimated revenue had exceeded by two billion the expenditure of the previous budget, but this forecast had proved overoptimistic. Due to the rise of the British pound rate, which increased from 270 drachmae in July 1925 to 350 drachmae in March 1926, the budget expenditure increased by 335,000,000 due to the servicing of the public debt and other foreign payments. Expenditure had also been burdened with 160 million drachmae of complementary expenses for the refugees. In addition, the return on taxes was smaller than that of the previous year, because the collection of taxes from tobacco production had delayed.
Indirect taxes, which were the most important source of revenue (in the budget of 1925-26 they were evaluated at 3,069,000,000 drachmae against 1,091,000,000 of direct taxes), comprised import and export duties and taxes of tobacco and alcohol consumption. The return on import duties registered a small rise in relation to the previous year, while the return on export duties registered a minor fall due to delayed exportation of tobacco, but also because the tax of tobacco exports was abolished in 1926. Finally, the revenue deriving from the tax of tobacco consumption and the state monopolies increased due to a general rise in consumption. |