§ 50. Mr. LEWIS JONES (for Mr. SUMMERSBY)asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that an assessor-canvasser in the employ of the Commissioner of Taxes, in the Tower Division, canvassed the Church District of Shoreditch, as a result of which 144 £2,700 was paid in Income Tax; is he aware that the £8 paid to the canvasser as wages was only at the rate of 3d. per hour for the time employed; and will he see that such canvassers are properly remunerated in future?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI assume the work to which the question refers is the compilation of a conjectural list of persons liable to Income Tax. This is a normal part of the duty of an assessor who is paid on a basis which takes due account of the work necessarily done during the year. The assessor referred to was appointed late in the financial year 1931–32 and the amount of £8 was paid to him in respect of that fraction of the year for which he acted. I cannot accept the suggestion that the result of his activities was an increase of £2,700 in the yield of Income Tax.