§ MR. THEOBALD (Essex, Romford)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer why telegraph clerks are treated differently to the general public in respect of the incidence of Income Tax, in that Income Tax is deducted from salaries of £140 a year in September, upon the assumption that they may exceed the sum of £150 a year by the end 1143 of the financial year; whether, in reply to largely signed protests, his Department has suggested that the signers may possess lands, Consols, &c.; and whether he will place the telegraph clerks on a footing of equality with members of the general public in this respect, by deducting the tax in only such cases where salaries are clearly liable, and at the same period of the year as it is enforced outside the Central Telegraph Office?
§ MR. A. MORLEYMy right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. Telegraphists, in common with other Civil servants, are assessed in respect of their official emoluments under "Schedule E" of the Income Tax Acts, whereas the general public are assessed under "Schedule D," and the Rules applicable to the two schedules are different. Of the telegraphists to whom the question refers, the large majority earn for extra duty in the course of the yearan amount which brings their incomes to £150, or above, and the practice of the Post Office in assessing these officers early in the financial year is for their convenience, for otherwise the whole of the tax would have to be dealt with in a Supplementary Assessment and to be paid at once. Of course, whenever the income proves to have been loss than £150 in the course of the year, the tax is returned. In reply to the protest, the possible possession of lands, Consols, &c, was indeed mentioned as bearing incidentally on the general question, hut it does not influence the practice of the Post Office, which deals only with official emoluments.