§ 55. Major CHAPPLEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether an income of £90,000 pays no higher total rate of tax than one of £10,000; whether, if a taxpayer having an income of £100,000 records his income at £1 less than the true amount, he will save £15,000 in Income Tax; whether his attention has been called to a method whereby the graduation in the rates of taxation rises uniformly through all sums according to a curve; and whether he will call for a Report from financial experts as to the practicability of adopting this method in the hope that all incomes may be made to bear their fair share of the burden of taxation and no more, and that the temptation to taxpayers to manoeuvre for a lower rate may be removed?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative; the combined effective rates of Income and Super Tax under the present Finance Bill are:
As regards the second part, the amount saved would be not £15,000, but 10s. 6d. I am aware of various methods of the kind referred to in the last part of the question. One of them is exemplified in the present Super-tax scale. The question whether the principle could be extended to the Income Tax generally is one which will, no doubt, be considered by the Committee which is to inquire into the Income Tax after the War.
On an income of £10,000 8s. 4–5d. in the £ On an income of £90,000 10s. 3–16d. in the £