HC Deb 03 June 1918 vol 106 cc1281-7

(1) As from the appointed date there shall be charged, levied, and paid on all payments made in respect of the purchase or supply of articles of luxury sold or supplied in Great Britain or Ireland, other than a purchase of articles by a person who is a dealer in articles of the same or a like nature buying to sell again, and on all payments made in respect of goods sold or supplied, accommodation supplied, or services rendered, at any place of luxury in Great Britain or Ireland, an Excise Duty (in this Act referred to as "Luxury Duty ") of an amount equal to one-sixth part of the payment:

Provided that where the total amount paid for any articles of luxury sold or supplied to one person at the same time, or the total amount paid at a place of luxury by one person at the same time, is less than one shilling, Luxury Duty shall not be charged in respect of the payment, and where any such payment exceeds one shilling, Luxury Duty shall not be charged on any fractional part of a shilling.

(2) Luxury Duty chargeable on payments made in respect of articles of luxury sold or supplied shall be recoverable from the person by whom the articles are sold or supplied, and Luxury Duty chargeable in respect of payments made at a place of luxury shall be recoverable from the proprietor of the place of luxury, or if it is not recoverable from that person or the proprietor, as the case may be, shall be recoverable from the person by whom or on whose behalf the payments are made.

Where the amount of the duty is less than fifty pounds, Luxury Duty may, without prejudice to any other means of recovery, be recovered by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise summarily as a civil debt.

(3) In this Part of this Aet—

The expressions "article of luxury" and "place of luxury" mean respectively any article or place declared from time to time by Resolution of the House of Commons originating in Committee of Ways and Means to be an article of luxury or place of luxury:

The expression "accommodation" includes lodging, stabling, and accommodation for vehicles of any description, and the expression "services rendered" includes games and sports provided:

The expression "appointed date" means as respects any article of luxury or place of luxury, such date, not being earlier than two weeks or later than four week 6 after the pass- ing of a Resolution declaring the article or place to be an article or place of luxury, or the passing of this Act, whichever is the later, as may be fixed by the Treasury:

The expression "proprietor" in relation to a club includes any person responsible for the management of the club.

Mr. BONAR LAW

I beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the words "all payments," and to insert instead thereof the words "every payment." This is a purely drafting Amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

The CHAIRMAN

The next Amendment, standing in the name of the hon. Member for Cambridge University (Mr. Rawlinson)—to insert the words "hire purchase"—will come later, in the definition Clause.

Amendment made: In Sub-section (1), leave out the words "all payments" ["all payments made in respect of goods sold or supplied"], and insert instead thereof the words "every payment."—[Mr. Bonar Law.]

Mr. BONAR LAW

I beg to move, in Sub-section (1), to leave out the words "of an amount equal to one-sixth part of the payment," and to insert instead thereof the words "at the rate shown in the scale set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act."

Mr. LOUGH

It is difficult to follow this.

Mr. BALDWIN

May I explain that the alteration of those words is necessitated by the fact that a scale has been drawn up to keep as closely as possible to the one-sixth which was sanctioned in the Resolution, and a scale was drawn up for the purpose of administering the Act so that as small an amount of stamps as possible might be used for the purpose of collecting this duty. It is also, I understand, a great convenience to the shopkeeper, and will prevent a great deal of rather intricate calculation.

Sir C. HENRY

My right hon. Friend has surely not altered the flat rate of ⅙th?

Mr. BALDWIN

It is very near to it.

Sir M. BARLOW

I have an Amendment to this Clause in its original shape, asking for a reduction in the tax, and I should like an opportunity of saying a few words in regard to it. I am not so sanguine as to assume that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will give us the reduction quite in the form that I suggest, but there ought to be an opportunity offered those—I speak on behalf of important organisations—who desire to make suggestions as to the amount of the tax proposed. I do not know how beat in accordance with the convenience of the House and the rules of Order to bring this matter forward, but the Amendment would be substantially out of order, because directly the one-sixth disappears it really becomes a question of the Schedule. If I could have an opportunity of dealing with the matter on the Schedule—and I take it that would be the proper course—I would let the Amendment as it stands drop, but I do think that an opportunity ought to be given for responsible bodies of traders to put their views before the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the House as to why, in their view, the tax as at present proposed is too high. I speak for a large number of associations, such as the Booksellers' Association and,the Art Dealers' Association, who are not in the least hostile—I do not say that they like the tax, but they are prepared, as loyal, patriotic Englishmen, within reasonable limits to accede to the Chancellor's demands—and their contention is that the burden of the tax, if you put it as high as 16g per cent., will be so great that it will defeat its own purpose.

Mr. HOLT

On a point of Order. May I ask whether the effect of discussing the rate of the tax now will be that when we come to consider the words which the Chancellor proposes to insert in the Schedule we shall be debarred from any further discussion?

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (Sir D. Maclean)

I take it that the general discussion will take place on this Amendment, and of course we shall dispose of the Amendment of the hon. Member now in possession of the Committee.

Mr. BONAR LAW

Is that Amendment in order?

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

I shall not call upon the hon. Member.

Mr. BONAR LAW

I do not know whether it is the best course, but I was going to suggest that the discussion might take place on the Schedule, when it would be easy to reduce the total. It would be a pity to have the discussion twice.

Sir M. BARLOW

I am quite in the hands of the Committee, and if you, Sir, agree, I am quite willing to concur.

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

The discussion which the hon. Member wishes could be raised more correctly on the Schedule.

Mr. LOUGH

Are we to understand that the hon. Member will raise this point when we come to the Schedule? I would like to ask the right hon. Gentleman's opinion with regard to this matter. We refer by this Amendment to a scale, and that scale appears for the first time in the Amendments now before us. The scale and certain Amendments of the Chancellor of the Exchequer refer to a number of articles which will be sent down to us from the Committee upstairs. We do not. know what they will be. We are really acting in the dark. We are planning taxes and rates of taxes, and we are drawing up this working scale for a number of articles about which we do not know anything. It seems to me a very unsatisfactory way to proceed in a grave matter of this kind. Would it not be better for the Chancellor of the Exchequer not to move these Amendments now, and for us not to go on with this part of the Bill until we have the Report from the Committee upstairs and know exactly the articles that we are proposing to tax? It may be that the rates which we are laying down and that the principles which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has embodied in this and subsequent Amendments may not fit any article. There may be two or three articles of gigantic importance that will come down from the Committee upstairs, and we are really taking a leap in the dark in applying all these principles to the articles before we know what they are. I therefore beg to suggest to my right hon. Friend, who is meeting with no obstruction of any kind to-day, that he might defer this Clause of the Luxury Tax until we get the Report of the Committee, and deal with it altogether in a separate Bill. It would be an objection if my right hon. Friend could say that he would lose time by doing so, and would be interfering with the businesslike procedure of the House—

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

I think it better to say that it is no use making that appeal to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, because you cannot postpone a Clause which you have already amended in Committee.

Mr. LOUGH

Surely if the Government—

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

I could not give my assent to it

Mr. D. MASON

If you were agreeable, and if it were the sense of the House that we should wait for the Report of the Committee, would it not be possible to defer the further consideration of this Clause?

Mr. BONAR LAW

I wish to say that in this matter I am entirely in the hands of the Committee. When we discussed this tax with my advisers, of course, it was new, and at the time that the Resolutions were put down there were a lot of considerations which had not been taken into account. They have been taken into account since, and they are now embodied in the Amendment before the Committee. The view of my advisers is that they have now covered the case, and that the general principles we have laid down will cover any Schedule that is introduced. At the same time, I quite realise that it is an unusual course. My object in taking it frankly was to avoid having all the stages of two Finance Bills—the Committee knows exactly what that means—but, in view of the way in which the House of Commons has treated every Finance Bill since the War began, I am perfectly certain, if that is considered to be the better method, that we can rely upon the House of Commons not wasting time and allowing us to get our Bill without delay. I am in the hands of the Committee, and, if there is a general feeling that it would be better to drop these Luxury Taxes out of this Bill altogether and introduce a separate Finance Bill, I am perfectly ready to do it; but, if so, I wish the Committee to understand that it must not be taken as in any way indicating any going back at all on the determination to carry through this proposal. It is simply a question of method. As I say, I leave myself in the hands of the Committee.

Mr. McKENNA

I think my right hon. Friend has treated the House very fairly, and I am quite sure from my own experience that when he introduces his second Bill the House will treat him equally fairly. I remember that in 1916 I took part of the original proposals out of the Finance Bill and introduced a second Bill. and the House gave me the Bill almost at once. I believe, after the Committee has reported and we know what are the articles of luxury that my right hon. Friend will have a much easier task than he would have now that we should be legislating in the dark.

Mr. BONAR LAW

I fancy from the cheers which greeted what I said, and from what my right hon. Friend has said, that the Committee feel that is the best method, and in these circumstances I gladly fall in with the suggestion.

Mr. HOLT

I quite agree with the course that the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to take, and I was really going to raise the same point at a subsequent stage, but I hope it is not understood that those who are opposed to this tax by accepting the proposal of the right hon. Gentleman pledge ourselves to give a friendly passage to a Bill to which we object altogether in principle.

Mr. BONAR LAW

Oh no, I do not at all expect that. All I understand it to mean is that there will be no effort except the most legitimate discussion, and that otherwise we shall be allowed to get the Bill.

Mr. H. SAMUEL

Do we understand that the first paragraph of Sub-section (3) will not appear in the subsequent Bill when it is introduced after the Committee has reported?

Mr. BONAR LAW

That, of course, will come out.

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

I am sorry that I cannot withdraw the Clause from the Committee.

Mr. HOLT

We can negative it.

Mr. BONAR LAW

Then you will have to negative the whole Clause.

Mr. RUNCIMAN

If we negative the Clause will that in any way interfere with the introduction of the same proposal in the form of a separate Bill later in the Session? We ought to have it quite clear, so that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not embarrassed.

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN

The decision of the Committee will not affect the power to bring in another Bill; it will only affect the Clause in the Bill.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Clause, as amended, negatived.

Clauses 12 (Supplemental Provisions as to Luxury Duty) and 13 (Provision for Enabling Local Authority and Police Authority to Exercise Powers in Relation to Luxury Duty) negatived.

Clauses 14 (Limit of Time for Payment of Beer Duty); 15 (Deposit of British Glucose in Warehouse on Drawback); 16, (Amendment of 39 40 Vict., c. 36, with Respect to Excise Drawbacks); and 17, (Drawback and Allowance on Goods Damaged or Destroyed After Shipment), ordered to stand part of the Bill.