§ MR. FELLI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can state the difference between the amount of the profits shown in the balance sheets of companies supplied to the Income Tax Commissioners, and on which income tax is paid, and the amount of the dividends actually paid by these same companies to the shareholders; and whether, in view of the amount of this difference, he will give instructions or introduce legislation to enable the companies to obtain exemption or abatement from the proportion of such profits which belongs to those shareholders although not distributed amongst them.
§ MR. ASQUITHThe records of the Board of Inland Revenue do not contain the information necessary for such a comparison. Under the Income Tax Acts a company is chargeable on the 1563 whole of its profits, whether distributed to the shareholders or not, and I am not prepared to recommend to Parliament a change in the law in the direction suggested.