§ CAPTAIN CRAIG (Down, E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether instructions have been issued to delay the refunding of income-tax to those entitled to a refund, or if the delay in doing so is occasioned by overwork in the Department of Inland Revenue.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The reason for the apparent delay in the settlement of income-tax repayment claims is to be found in the uneven distribution of the work over the year. The great majority of the claims are received in the spring and early summer months, and the present system of dealing gradually with the applications in the order in which they are received is the only alternative to the employment of a staff so large that profitable work could not be found for it during the autumn and winter.