§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (Worcestershire, E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated amount of unearned income exempted from income-tax by reason of the system of abatements now in force for incomes of less than £700 per annum; and what is the total amount of income from all sources, earned or unearned, at present exempt from tax, distinguishing, if possible, between income exempted for the foregoing reason and income allowed for insurance or any other cause.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The answer to the first part of the Question is, 1598 about £20,000,000 for 1907–8. "The total amount of income from all sources, earned or unearned, at present exempt from tax "includes all the income that is exempt from tax by reason of the income of the recipient not exceeding £160 per annum. What the aggregate of such income may be the Board of Inland Revenue have no means of judging. All that they can make the subject of an estimate is the income that comes under their observation in connection with the assessment of income-tax, and this includes only a small fraction of the aggregate income of persons having not more than £160 per annum. The total amount of income that thus comes under observation, and that for one reason or another is exempted from tax, may for the current year be taken at rather more than £300,000,000, of which about £120,000,000 will be exempted under the system of abatements. The distribution of the £300,000,000 is shown in detail in Table CLXXV., on page 196 of the Forty-ninth Report of the Board of Inland Revenue.