§ 82. Mr. H. WILLIAMSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the actual income assessed for Income Tax in the latest year for which the figures are available, together with an estimate of the number of persons assessed, and for comparison the corresponding figures for 1913–14?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHAFor the year 1913–14 the actual income assessed to Income Tax was £951,000,000 and the 887 number of individuals with incomes over the exemption limit was 1,200,000. For the year 1931–32 the estimates given in the last annual report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue show the actual income assessed to Income Tax to be £2,760,000,000 and the number of individuals with incomes exceeding the exemption limit to be 8,400,000. The figures for 1913–14 and 1931–32 are not comparable. The exemption limit in 1913–14 was £160 and the exemption limit in 1931–32 was £100 for investment income and £125 for earned income and owing to the changes in price level the monetary values are different.
§ Mr. WILLIAMSDoes the hon. Gentleman regard his statement as a complete contradiction of the statistics given by the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. D. Grenfell) last Thursday?