HC Deb 01 March 1888 vol 322 cc1815-6
SIR RICHARD PAGET (Somerset, Wells)

asked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, in view of the proposals referred to in Her Majesty's Gracious Speech, "for adjusting the relations between Local and Imperial finance," and in order to assist the House in arriving at a just conclusion as to the relative incidence of Imperial taxation on real and personal property, he will be good enough to lay upon the Table of the House a continuation of the Return (varied so as to exhibit the current rate of Income Tax) of "Imperial Taxation exclusively borne by Real and by Realised Personal Property respectively," presented by the Treasury in August, 1885, and in the concluding paragraph of which it is stated that— It is quite certain that the figures which have been adopted for the purposes of this Return must approximate very closely to the truth?

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

I am afraid I cannot agree with the hon. Baronet in thinking that it would assist the House in arriving at a just conclusion as to the relative incidence of Imperial taxation on real and personal property if I were to grant a continuation of the Return in question. The words he quotes from the end of the Memorandum annexed to the Return of 1885 as to the trustworthiness of the figures applied only, I am informed, to the figures relating to the Death Duties, and not, as the hon. Baronet appears to think, to the Return generally. I have studied the Return with some care, and I have consulted its compilers as to its value. They tell me that even in the less conjectural parts there was much division of opinion among them, and they had considerable difficulty in coming to any agreement; and I need not remind the hon. Baronet of the severe criticisms passed upon it at the time. To me, the figures given in the Return are very interesting, though I cannot help recognizing their conjectural and speculative character; but I think that Tables in which this conjectural element enters so largely should be published rather by private statisticians than on the authority of the Government—an authority which is apt to be misunderstood.