§ If an incumbent makes payments to a lay assistant which are certified by the bishop of the diocese as necessarily incurred by him in carrying out the duties of his office, he shall be allowed to deduct such payments from the amount of his assessable income.—[Major Birchall.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
1318§ Major BIRCHALLI beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."
Under the present law, if an incumbent employs a curate, he is entitled to deduct the Income Tax on the amount that he pays him, but if the same incumbent employs a lay assistant he is not entitled to any deduction. We want the lay assistant to be put in the same position as a curate in this matter, so that Income Tax can be deducted in respect of the amount paid. This matter was considered by the Royal Commission on Income Tax, and they unanimously recommended that this concession be granted. It is a very small matter, and I hope the Chancellor of the Exchequer may be able to grant the concession. It affects a large number of very poor clergy who already have more than they can do to live on their income.
§ Sir R. HORNEI am sorry I cannot accept the proposal as it is made. Perhaps at another time my hon. Friend may be able to make it in a form more acceptable. As the proposition is put, it involves that a distinction now left to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue shall be transferred to the bishop of the diocese, not with regard to the licensing of a particular person in respect of whom the deduction is asked, but in respect of the allowance to be made. That obviously is a distinction which can never be handed over by the Inland Revenue to any ecclesiastical dignitary, however eminent.
§ Question, "That the Clause be read a Second time," put, and negatived.