The library service of HM Customs & Excise

OF THE MANY responsibilities shouldered by the civil service, revenue collection would be unlikely to get a high rating in any popularity poll. Yet taxation, just as inevitably as night follows day, is with us from the cradle to the grave, and HM Customs and Excise is one of the two main government departments (Inland Revenue being the other) charged with the duty of filling the coffers of the Exchequer. The department's main function is the collection of ‘indirect’ taxes, eg purchase tax, spirit and import duties, imposed by Parliament and which at present yield £5,000 million a year — about one third of the total revenue received by the Exchequer. Other non‐revenue functions are performed in connection with the arrival and departure of ships and aircraft, the detection and prevention of drug smuggling, the control of imports and exports, public health and so on.