§ MR. BOWLESI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the income-tax returns made by private individuals and companies are treated as entirely confidential by the Income-Tax 1178 Commissioners, or is the information contained in them available to any Cabinet Minister on demand, to the Cabinet collectively, to the officers of the Estate Duty Department, or to any and, if so, what other Government officials and departments.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fifeshire, E.The Board of Inland Revenue do not consider that any use they may make of income-tax returns within their own department, and for their own official use, constitutes a disclosure of such returns within the meaning of the provisions of the law relating to secrecy in income-tax matters. Care is taken, however, that only responsible officers should have cognisance of such matters. Any request for information coming from another department, or from any of my colleagues in the Cabinet, would only be considered in the event of its being preferred through mo. I have not up to the present had occasion to consider in what circumstances, if any, such a request could be complied with.