§ MR. FIELDTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that certain American beef companies who 497 import meat into this country state they do so at a loss and pay no Income-Tax upon their turnover; and whether he will institute inquiries regarding this matter.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The matter is one to the importance of which the Board of Inland Revenue are fully alive, and every care is taken by them to secure the assessment of the companies to Income-Tax on their true English profits. In the case of an appeal by an American firm against an Inland Revenue assessment in 1903, the firm in question succeeded in proving to the satisfaction of the District Commissioners, by means of a full disclosure of the accounts of the whole of their business, that the trading of the dressed beef department, from which the bulk of the English trade is drawn, had resulted in a loss.