§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that the Calcutta Government have declined to exempt the incomes of artizans and operatives earning only ten pounds a-year, or less than four shillings per week, from taxation under the Licence Tax; whether it is not a fact that though professing to be only a licence tax, or tax upon callings, the new impost is aggravated according to amount of earnings, and thus combines the features of a tax upon incomes with the general character of a licence tax; and, if this be the case, what precautions the Government have taken to protect the poor people rated according to difference of earnings from extortion at the hands of the police?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTON,in reply, said, that the hon. Member for Hackney (Mr. Eawcett) had given Notice of a Motion for
Copies of all the Acts recently passed by the Government of India imposing new taxation in India for the year 1878–9;and as that Motion would not be opposed, the hon. Member for Dungarvan would obtain from that Return all the information he desired. He must, however, say that it was true that the minimum income liable to taxation under the Act was 100 rupees, and that the Government had vested the whole administration of the Act in the hands of the Collectors.