§ 24. Mr. ISAAC FOOTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated financial effect in a full year, on the basis of last year's figures of production of beer, of the reduction in the rate of duty on brewers' licences?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINAs stated in the Budget White Paper the estimated revenue effect of the alteration proposed in the duty on licences to brewers for sale is negligible.
§ Mr. FOOTThe word "negligible" may mean anything. Cannot we have any more definite information in regard to a duty which has not been altered Since the beginning of the War?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe alteration in the duty is necessitated by the fact that brewers no longer have the option to 1258 decide whether duty should be paid on the standard barrel or the bulk barrel. They now have to pay on bulk barrels. Before they could pay on standard barrels. The duty has been reduced accordingly, but the effect on the revenue will not be more than a few thousand pounds one way or the other.