§ MR. COX (Clare, E.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is true that, if, after repeated applications on the part of local collectors of Income Tax for payment, the tax is remitted direct to the Comptroller, the poundage is not paid to the local collector, although he had all the trouble; and, whether he will order that the poundage be paid in all cases where every effort had been made by the local collector to secure payment?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HENRY H. FOWLER) (Wolverhampton, E.)Poundage is payable only to collectors on the sums recoverable by them. No alteration in the present system is necessary or advisable.
§ MR. COX (Clare, E.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is true that local collectors of Income Tax in Ireland outside the city of Dublin have to pay postage on all Correspondence relating to the collection of Income Tax; whether the local collectors within the city of Dublin are saved this considerable expenditure by sending their letters through the free official post; and, whether he will see that the former be placed on the same footing as the latter by ordering that their official letters be sent free through the post?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. HENRY H. FOWLER) (Wolverhampton, E.)The poundage covers all expenses incidental to the performance of the duties of the office. The privilege referred to in the second part of the Question is taken into account in fixing the remuneration of the collectors. There is no necessity for altering the present system. In Dublin the collection is made from house to house; in the country the tax is, as a rule, collected from the landlords or agents with much less trouble and expense.