§ MR. KENNEDY (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the inconvenience caused to persons of small fixed incomes in having to make out each year in detail a statement of income before receiving the abatements of income tax to which they are entitled by law, and seeing that many persons, such as ladies and others unaccustomed to business, forfeit the abatements to which they are entitled sooner than face the annual ordeal of filling income tax forms, he will provide that in those cases wherein the right to abatement is once established, particularly under Schedules A and B, a simple declaration that the previous income has not increased be accepted by the Revenue authorities in proof of any further claims for abatements from the same person.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIn strictness the income tax laws require that a person whose income falls within the statutory limits of abatement should establish his claim to abatement year by year. But, as a matter of practice, when a title to abatement has once been established, the officers of the Board of Inland Revenue do, whenever practicable, dispense with a fresh formal claim from the same person during the next few years.