§ MR. DALZIEL (Kirkcaldy, Burghs)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware of the fact that the Income Tax Collector at Cupar has issued notices stating that, unless income tax for the current year is paid within 48 hours, the sheriff's officer will proceed to recover; whether he will take such action as will allow to income tax payers in Scotland the same latitude as that allowed in England.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARYT0 THE TREASURY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN, Worcestershire, E.)Though I have no official information as to the particular proceedings taken in Cupar, complaints of a similar kind have reached me within the last 24 hours from many hon. Members representing Scotch constituencies. The practice for long past in Scotland has been to issue the third notice, which threatens the intervention of the sheriff's officer, about the middle of February. In England the issue begins at the same time of third notices, which warn that, if not paid, the tax will be recovered by distraint. I should add that the notices to which reference has been made do not amount to more than an intimation that unless the tax be paid within 48 hours the matter will he placed in the hands of the sheriff's officer for recovery. Some time is always allowed to elapse before the matter is placed in the hands of the sheriff's officer, and after it has been so placed, he never proceeds to levy without a further warning. It must, however, he remembered that the tax is due on or before 1st January, and that the machinery of collection in Scotland is different from that in England. Some differences of practice are therefore more or less inevitable, but the whole question is being further examined by the Board of Inland Revenue with a view to approximating the proceedings in the two countries as closely as possible. I have to express my regret that, owing to an unfortunate misunderstanding, this question was not fully considered, as was our intention, in time to allow of any change of practice this year. But I hope that the explanations which I have now given will remove the anxiety which has arisen in the minds of hon. Members.
§ MR DALZ1ELThen I understand that the notices which have been issued will not be acted on immediately?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINNo, they will not.