§ 54. Mr. HURDasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the Super-tax due on 1st January, 1925, had been paid on 1st April, 1925; whether the Inland Revenue are taking drastic action this year to insure that payment of Super-tax due on 1st January is paid before 1st April; and what proportion of the Super-tax due has so far been collected?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI regret that I am unable, without a disproportionate expenditure of time and labour, to state what percentage of the Super-tax due (i.e., in respect of which a demand for payment had been issued) on 1st January, 1925, had been paid on 1st April, 1925. My hon. Friend will appreciate that the main assessment of the year's Super-tax proceeds almost continuously between the months of October and April, and that the amount paid by the 31st March in any year would include a considerable sum which was not assessed, and therefore was not payable, until after 1st January in that year. As regards the year 1924–25, the amount of Super-tax collected by 31st March, 1925, was approximately 64 per cent. of the amount assessed at that date; the corresponding percentage, at the end of February this year in respect of the duty already assessed for the year 1925–26 is about 50 per cent. The collection of the Super-tax, I am glad to say, is proceeding satisfactorily, and this is to be attributed to the fact that the taxpayer has responded to an improvement in the machinery of assessment directed to the 2104 earlier issue of assessment notices and possibly also to the diminution of the tax effected last year.