§ MR. HEALYasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If, before introducing the Budget, he will consider the advisability of raising revenue by allowing newsvendors, on payment of an annual licence, to sell literature at Railway Stations; could he state approximately what amount would be realised to the Exchequer by levying a tax of one pound per annum on each Railway bookstall in the Kingdom; and, whether there would be any difficulty or expense in collection?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. CHILDERS)In reply to the hon. Member I may say that it is the special function of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to consider proposals for new taxes as well as for the increase or diminution of existing taxes. I receive several hundred proposals of this kind in the course of the year, and I shall be happy to consider that of the hon. Member; but I do not quite understand its purport. Does he propose that the Revenue officers of Her Majesty's Government should give licences for bookstalls at railway stations whether the Companies to whom the stations belong permit or not the bookstalls to be placed there, or is the tax only to be paid for bookstalls allowed by the Companies? For my own part, I should greatly doubt whether Parliament has the power of overriding the right of a Railway Company to give or refuse permission to any person to keep a bookstall at a station, and I certainly am not prepared to make 1332 such a proposal to Parliament. I believe that there are about 6,500 passenger stations in the United Kingdom, and I should conjecture that there may be bookstalls at from a third to a half of these. If so, the Revenue derivable from the last suggestion by the hon. Member might produce from £2,000 to £3,000. There would be no difficulty in collecting it.
§ MR. HEALYinquired whether the right hon. Gentleman was aware that it had been decided in a recent case that no local taxes were payable by such stalls, and whether they were in the habit of competing with poor tradesmen by selling other articles besides books?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. CHILDERS)No, Sir, I was not aware of it; but the remedy would be to make them rateable by law. It is as easy to make them rateable as to make them taxable.