HC Deb 17 February 1887 vol 310 c1750
CAPTAIN SELWYN (Cambridge, Wisbeach)

asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, notwithstanding that, since the coming into operation of "The Married Women's Property Act, 1882," a husband has no legal control over his wife's income,, yet he is compelled to pay Income Tax on the joint incomes of himself and his wife, when together they exceed £150, although the separate income of each may be under £150?

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN) (St. George's, Hanover Square)

, in reply, said, that where the joint incomes of husband and wife came to over £150 they were taxed, the income being treated as the joint income of a family, and not as that of two separate persons lodging together in. the same house. The hon. and gallant Member would find that if the husband and wife were to be treated separately, the wife, in the case of the death of her husband, would have to pay Legacy and Succession Duty as a stranger, so that they would gain little by being treated as separate persons.