Basutoland 1931 was a deficit colony: its Native Tax barely covered the wages of one tier of colonial officials. Gold Coast 1946 was self-financing. The "empire" was not a coherent fiscal unit — it was a collection of heterogeneous extractions.
£125,665
Basutoland Native Tax, 1931
from 570,000 people
£0.22
Tax per person per year
Basutoland 1931
35:1
Approximate ceiling ratio of
European/native wage scales
Self-funded
Gold Coast fiscal status, 1946
(plus received UK grants)
Revenue vs. Expenditure — Basutoland 1931 and Gold Coast 1946 (approximate £ thousands)
Note: Basutoland's total revenue was ~£127K in 1931; its administrative expenditure alone absorbed most of it.
Gold Coast's 1946 figures are far larger — customs and income taxes supported a substantially bigger colonial state.
Both colonies operated under the same doctrine: colonies should pay for themselves.
In Basutoland's case, they did not — raising the question of who subsidized whom.
Wage Scale Architecture — Basutoland 1931 (annual £)
European civil servants: £200–£850/year
Native Assistant Medical Officer (highest): £204/year
Native clerk: £24–£60/year
The wage structure was itself a transfer mechanism. Administrative posts were racially segmented — the same function performed by a European cost India or Basutoland 4–12× more than a native officer would have.
Basutoland Revenue Composition — 1931
Native Hut Tax and related levies formed the overwhelming majority of Basutoland's own-source revenue.
These taxes were collected in cash, forcing subsistence farmers into the migrant labour market — primarily South African mines.
The tax served as both a fiscal instrument and a labour-supply mechanism.