§ LORD R. CECIL (Marylebone, E.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the delay which takes place in repaying to income-tax payers with an income entitling them to an abatement or remission of tax the amount of such abatement or remission, which has been deducted from their income before it reaches their hands; and whether, in view of the hardship that this delay inflicts on those often very poor men who are entitled to remission or abatement, he will take steps to put an end to such delay.
§ MR. ASQUITHI am aware that, owing to the immense accumulation of claims within a few months of the year mid to the close investigation necessary to ensure the Department against paying away money to which the claimant's title has not been conclusively proved, there is during the summer months a considerable delay in the settlement of claims. Every effort, however, is made by the Board of Inland Revenue to minimise this delay, both by the adoption of the most expeditious methods of dealing with the work and by the employment of the staff on long and continuous overtime. Much as I regret the inconvenience thus caused to the public, I fear that it is impossible, consistently with the due security of the Revenue, to devise any method of reducing it further.
§ LORD R. CECILIs it not rather hard on the person entitled to repayment that he should not be paid interest on the money while it is withheld from him?