Text 2 The Customs in London

The first Custom House was built around 1275 to collect the dues for Edward’s Great Custom. It was replaced by a larger building in 1378. In 1559 it had to be rebuilt after a fire. This building perished in the Great Fire of 1666. Like so much of the City, it was rebuilt by Christopher Wren. Wren’s fine building did not last long. In 1714 it was severely damaged by a nearby explosion.

It was rebuilt between 1715 and 1727 by Thomas Ripley, who reused Wren’s foundations. Ripley’s building contained the famous Long Room, which is the most important – and the most striking – part of the Custom House.

All paperwork regarding duties payable on cargoes was taken to the Customs officials there. This was a complicated business. When there were almost 2000 dutiable goods, and ships carried many different goods, calculating the necessary duties for each vessel was an immense task.

After all the calculations were completed and the dues paid, the Long Room officials would issue the necessary receipts. Only then could the goods be unloaded. The Custom House in the City was convenient for shipping. Once the docks were built, the Customs Service set up posts at each of the major docks.

Exercise 18. Complete the sentences.

1. The first Custom House was built _______.

2. This building perished in ________.

3. Christopher Wren’s building was severely damaged _________.

4. Thomas Ripley’s building contained __________.

5. The Custom House in the City was convenient for _________.

Exercise 19. Fill in the gaps using the words from the box:

products, revenue, rulers, taxes, voice, tensions, duties, sources, prevention, goods, functions, independence, disasters

Text 3 The Revenue Problem

Medieval kings faced the same problems that trouble governments of today - how to raise enough (1) ______ to pay for such things as administration and defence. Despite a bewildering range of taxes, (2) _______ were nearly always short of money.

Most (3) ______ were difficult to collect, and people were not keen on paying unpopular taxes. Resentment over taxes also played a major role in pushing the American colonists to declare (4) ________ in 1776. The British insisted that the colonists pay taxes for their own defence, but would not grant them a political (5) _______ in London. This caused (6) _______ that led to the War of Independence and British defeat.

It was clear that a successful tax had to be easy to assess, easy to collect and difficult to avoid. Customs (7) ______ – taxes on certain goods imported and exported by sea – proved the most convenient solution.

Though they were never popular, they did not lead to some of the (8) ________ associated with other taxes. Customs duties were one of the most reliable (9) _______ of public revenue for many centuries.

Customs duties still generate revenue, but the modern Customs Service has far wider (10) ______. Its roles include the (11) ________ of international trade in drugs, illegal (12) _______ and other socially harmful _______ (13).

Exercise 20. Translate into Russian.

1. The Russian Customs Service predates the Mongol Yoke (1237-1480).

2. In Kievan Rus taxes were collected for transportation of goods through the frontiers of individual princedoms.

3. The first Russian Customs statute was handed down in 1667. It was strict towards foreigners, who were allowed to trade only in frontier towns on pain of confiscation.

4. Later Russian tsars approved laws limiting the import of foreign goods and defending Russian producers.