§ 31. Mr. DONNERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the proposed incursion of the Co-operative Wholesale Society into the retail field, he will consider steps to ensure the Exchequer a yield from taxation of the co-operative societies approximating to what non-co-operative undertakings of the same trades would pay on the profits resulting from a similar turnover?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe proposal of my hon. Friend appears to contemplate 1257 an alteration in the Income Tax charge which would relate it to the volume of trade instead of to the income arising from it. Such a change would operate far beyond co-operative undertakings, and I see no sufficient reason for entering upon an alteration of this character in our present system of taxation.