§ 54. Sir J. D. REESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether an agreement has been made with any Dominion Government whereby the Excess Profits Duties of the Imperial and the Dominion Governments are consolidated into one tax, the higher tax of the two being taken as the combined rate; whether in such agreement, of made, or in such agreements if made in future, account will be taken of losses as well as of profits, as in the Imperial Act, or whether no such allowance will be made, as in the Australian Act; and whether the Commonwealth Government has taken any action to bring its Excess Profits Duty into line with the law of the Imperial Government in this behalf?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWReciprocal arrangements under Section 23 of the Finance Act, 1917, have not yet been completed with any Dominion Government in regard to Excess Profits Duty, though arrangements in certain cases are in course of preparation. Any such arrangement when made must be for the collection of the higher and the remission of the lower of two separate charges; it could not interfere with the principles on which the several Legislatures have decided that the two charges should be computed. I am not aware that the Commonwealth Government has taken steps of the character suggested in the last part of the question.