The Budget Protest League was a British pressure group formed in June 1909 and led by Walter Long to oppose

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

's "

People's Budget The 1909/1910 People's Budget was a proposal of the Liberal government that introduced unprecedented taxes on the lands and incomes of Britain's wealthy to fund new social welfare programmes. It passed the House of Commons in 1909 but was blo ...

" outside of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The League attacked the Budget's Finance (1909-10) Act 1910 as

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

because of its

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

rises, increased

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

, and a

land value tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements. It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation ta ...

in order to redistribute this to old age pensions. It was not linked to

tariff reform The Tariff Reform League (TRL) was a protectionist British pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against what they considered to be unfair foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competitio ...

. It produced posters outlining its opposition to Lloyd George and the Budget. In a letter to ''The Times'' announcing the formation of the Budget Protest League, Long said:

It is unconstitutional to endeavour to secure, under cover of a Finance Bill, the acceptance by Parliament of legislative proposals very similar to, if not identical with, those which were rejected by the House of Lords last year...it is generally recognized by Socialists themselves that it embodies principles which are frankly Socialistic. Moreover, the increased expenditure upon naval construction is wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of the situation. Never during my Parliamentary career have I known such strong and general feelings of hostility to any financial proposals, and a desire is expressed on all sides, and by men of all classes, that the Budget should be rejected...it is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of the consequences which must follow in our country districts if the new taxation is allowed to pass. There are many owners of land who are only able with the utmost difficulty to maintain existing payments in connexion with their property. If these are called upon to pay heavy additional taxation it is inevitable that in many cases they will be compelled to resort to a reduction of the labour bill on their estates—a form of economy which in almost all cases they have in the past made sacrifices to avoid.''The Times'' (14 June 1909), p. 7.

In reaction to the formation of this League there was formed a

Budget League The Budget League was a British pressure group formed in 1909 by Winston Churchill to publicly campaign in favour of David Lloyd George's People's Budget in reaction to the activities of the Budget Protest League. The foundation of the League ha ...

—chaired by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

—to promote the "People's Budget".

Notes

External links

League poster attacking Lloyd George
Political history of the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1909 1909 establishments in the United Kingdom History of the Conservative Party (UK) Conservative political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom {{UK-poli-stub