the war. It is to THIS GREAT EFFORT, made almost entirely since the. war (in -1919-20 we had nearly reached 7½ milliards) , and made in the face of the economic crisis already begun, THAT ITALY MAINLY OWES THE STABILITY OF HER CURRENCY AND THE APPROACH TO A BALANCED BUDGET. The Socialists claim the honour of having stimulated the past Governments to adopt this course ; while the Fascists excited against the financial provision made the bitterest opposition of the possessing classes; organised taxpayers' strikes, and secured the arming arid subsidising of the first bands of the civil guerilla warfare. And while Fascism thus took advantage of the~e classes' intolerance of taxation to carry it into power, to-day it is making capital out of the beneficent results of the taxation which it opposed and obstructed, by pretending that the credit for them is its own! Under the Fascist Government the burden of taxation is continuing to fall, and to fall more heavily than ever, on consumption rather than on wealth, as is shown by the .following table, based on official data for the first ten months of 1923 :- Yield of taxation : Direct 3,692 millions, ·on exchange 1,093 " On consumption 3,054 " Monopolies 2,737 ,, Customs 900 " 13 Biblioteca Gino Bianco or 32 % ON W1;ALTH. or about 10%. 1 or 58% ON CONSUMPTION.
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