§ 55 Mr. BILLINGasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he will consider the advisability of instituting a tax on all printed forms of public announcements made in the interests of private gain; (2) whether he is aware that, despite the restriction of imports of printing paper, an increasing number of works of fiction continue to be issued; whether, under these circumstances, he will consider instituting a tax on every copy of such works issued during the remaining period of the War; and (3) whether, as a means of taxing the floating population, he will consider the desirability of revising the receipt tax on hotel and restaurant bills by reducing the minimum amount necessitating the affixing of a re- 2144 ceipt stamp from £2 to 5s., and at the same time increasing the rate of the tax to 1d. in the 1s.
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI will give due consideration to these, as to other suggestions which reach me for raising the revenue required for the public service in the coming financial year.