§ I now come to direct taxation. I have already mentioned that the stamp revenue has shown an unexpected expansion. After a period of eclipse during the War it has now not only recovered but has doubled its pre-war volume. For the year 1913–14 the receipts from stamps were approximately £10,000,000. In the calendar year 1919 they reached £18,700,000, and in the financial year just closed they yielded £22,500,000. The only increase of any stamp duty during the War was the doubling of the stamp on cheques by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, which took effect from the 1st September, 1918. This duty produced in 1919–20 a revenue of approximately £3,000,000—that is the whole receipt—which compares with £1,300,000 in 1913–14 and £1,350,000 in 1917–18. That is a very satisfactory result, on which I again congratulate my right hon. Friend and which I think disposes finally of the contention that the imposition of the additional duty of a penny has led to a diminution in the use of the cheque 90 and an increase in the inflation of the currency. With this exception, the whole of the increased receipts—and I come now to the information for which my right hon. Friend the Member for Paisley asked me—have been obtained on the old rates, and they are substantially concentrated under two heads of charge, conveyance on sale duty and duty on companies' capital.
Conveyance on sale duty, including transfers of stocks and shares, has risen from approximately £3,000,000 in 1913–14 to £9,500,000 last year. Companies' capital duty has increased from £700,000 to £3,400,000 in the same time. I think that these figures justify an increase of that duty. It will be recalled that the Finance Act of 1909–10 introduced a discrimination of charges payable on sale, leaving transfers of stocks and shares liable, as in the past, to 10s. per cent., but doubling the rate (except for small transactions) on conveyance of other properties, principally land and houses. I do not propose that the latter should be further increased, but in the circumstances of to-day I see no justification for maintaining the discrimination set up by the Act of 1909–10. Therefore, I propose to assimilate the duty on the transfer of stocks and shares with that on other conveyances by raising it to 1 per cent. I expect from this source an increase of revenue of £1,500,000 in the current year, and of £2,000,000 in a full year. As a consequential change the duty on marketable securities and on share warrants to bearer will be doubled, producing in the current year an increase of £300,000 and in a full year £500,000.
Companies' capital duty offers a more difficult problem. Some appreciable part of the flood of registrations that has recently appeared is no doubt due to the suspension of all flotations during the War. At the same time the expansion has been so enormous and so continuous that at present and for some months past registrations have been effected at twice the rate that obtained at the beginning of 1919, and, making all reasonable allowance for the operation of temporary causes, a substantial permanent increase remains. I propose to increase the duty from 5s. to £1 per cent., and in order to avoid the serious loss of revenue which would otherwise occur, I ask the Committee to give effect to the increase from the date of the resolution this evenings.
91 I expect from this source an increase of approximately £3,000,000 both this year and in a full year.
Receipt duties I ask the Committee to double. This change does no more than reflect the altered value of the penny. It will mean an additional £275,000 this year, and £550,000 in a full year. For the same reason, this small change from 1d. to 2d. will be made in the duty on Scrip Certificates. The increased yield from this source will be small. The duty on policies of insurance against fire and accident I propose to raise from a penny to sixpence, yielding an additional £50,000 this year and £100,000 in a full year.
One further alteration in stamp duty is proposed. At the present time the duty on sea policies increases with every £100 of the amount insured. This involves a long range of stamp denominations which, it is represented, is highly inconvenient to those who are concerned. I propose to remedy that inconvenience, and at the same time to bring in some additional duty to the Exchequer by changing the points at which the duty increases, so that instead of rising for every £100 it will, with suitable adjustments of the rate, rise only with every £250 up to a total insurance of £1,000, and in cases where the insurance exceeds £1,000 for every £500 only (or portion of £500) of the amount of the excess. The amount of the additional revenue is £75,000 this year and £150,000 in a full year. If these proposals are approved by the Committee I shall obtain from Stamps an additional yield in the current year of £5,200,000, and in a full year of £6,300,000.