HC Deb 12 May 1909 vol 4 cc1808-10
Mr. LANE-FOX

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the case of an estate having a gross annual value of over £5,000 and charged with annuities, payable free of income tax, which reduce its annual value to the owner to less than £5,000, a super-tax will have to be paid by him; and, if so, on how much of the estate?

Mr. LANE-FOX

also asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether in case of an estate having a gross annual value of £5,000, on which income tax is collected at the source and charged with annuities, those annuities, however small, will be charged with super-tax?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

I must request the hon. Member to wait for the information asked for in his questions until after the introduction of the Finance Bill.

Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

Before we discuss the Resolution, might we know on whom the taxes are to fall which we are asked to sanction?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

I can simply give a general answer to that question as to others. I must proceed on some general principle, and I really cannot discuss the details of a proposition by way of question and answer. That is the rule that has been laid down by my predecessors, and I must adhere to it.

Mr. LANE-FOX

Will the right hon. Gentleman receive a deputation on the subject from the Unionist party?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

Nothing would give me greater pleasure.

Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN

Will the right hon. Gentleman reply to the deputation with the same freedom as to the newspaper correspondents?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

Certainly. I should be very pleased to do so—probably with greater freedom.

Mr. LANE-FOX

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state on what principle under his Budget proposals the possessor of an income of £5,001 will pay £50 0s. 6d. more than one possessing £5,000 a year. I do not think it is any use asking further questions.

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

On the principle that wherever there is graduation there must necessarily be a dividing line. On the same principle the possessor of an income of £700 enjoys an abatement, and the possessor of an income of £701 does not.

Mr. MARKHAM

Arising out of that answer, may I ask what is the date the super-tax starts from?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

That is a different point. This year. [Cries of "When, when?"]

Mr. G. H. FABER

When the Finance Bill passes into law, or from the date that the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his Budget speech?

Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE

It will be on the income of the year. As the hon. Member knows, the income tax is collected late in the financial year.