§ 72. Mr. CROOKSasked whether it was intended, under Section 72, Sub-sections (1) to (8), of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, to set up a separate administration for assessment of Super-tax to be called the Special Commissioners of Income Tax; and, if so, whether this supplementary administration is necessary, seeing that all the details of income liable to Income Tax are already in the hands of the ordinary Income Tax Commissioners?
§ Mr. BALDWINMy right hon. Friend is under a misapprehension. The Special Commissioners of Income Tax, as well as the Local Commissioners, formed part of the machinery for assessment provided by the Income Tax Act of 1842. When the Super-tax was introduced in 1909–10, its assessment was placed exclusively in the hands of the Special Commissioners, partly because the taxable income in any individual case would frequently be derived from sources in different parts of the country and partly because of the 745 reluctance of Super-tax payers to disclose to any local body the aggregate of their income from all sources. For these reasons a centralised body already in existence, with powers extending over the whole of the United Kingdom, was entrusted with the work.