60. Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of total national income in Great Britain and Germany, respectively, is taken, or proposed to be taken, by the State in the form of Income Tax and Super-tax and their equivalents?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI am not acquainted with any trustworthy estimates of the total national income of either country at the present time.
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSIn view of the continual assurances from the Government that Germany is to be made to pay, are steps being taken to get this fundamental comparison?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI do not think that the comparison is fundamental for the purpose of making Germany pay. The assessment of her capacity to pay is a matter remitted by the Treaty to the Reparation Commission.
§ Mr. BILLINGWhat information can we have of Germany's capacity to pay unless we take some steps to find out what her national resources are?
§ Mr. SPEAKERNotice should be given of a question like that.