HC Deb 09 March 1916 vol 80 cc1716-7
93. Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEY

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the pay of officers serving in the Army and Navy is in the great majority of cases far less than it appears officially to be; whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that in practice officers receive their pay after Income Tax has been deducted, and that they thus never really receive the sum to which they are supposed to be entitled; and if, as an act of grace to those who are risking their lives at the front, he will so adjust the new Income Tax regulations that the pay of all officers amounting to and including £400 a year shall be exempt from Income Tax?

Mr. McKENNA

Diminution of gross income is a necessary corollary of an Income Tax, and the method of paying the tax by deduction from salary is applicable to all Government servants, and is not confined to naval and military officers. As regards the last part of the question, I am unable to anticipate my next Financial Statement.