§ SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that the privilege granted to Income-Tax payers, resident in this country, of exemption on premiums of life assurance policies is restricted to policies issued by companies whose head offices are in the United Kingdom, and is not applicable to policies issued by companies established in other parts of the Empire, as in India, Australia, and Canada, he will consider the propriety of extending this privilege to the policies of all Indian and Colonial life assurance companies, which are now treated as foreigners.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) Legislation is required in order to extend to Indian and Colonial insurance companies the exemption from Income-Tax on premiums which is granted to insurance offices in the United Kingdom. I am making inquiries into the conditions under which insurance companies carry on their business in the respective Colonies and in India, with a view to finding out whether in each case the same treatment is accorded to companies with local head offices and companies with head offices in the United Kingdom. Until I am in possession of the result of those inquiries I am unable to make any definite statement as to legislation.