§ 34. Mr. DAVID MASONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can inform the House of the taxation per head in the United Kingdom for 1913–44 and that for 1933–34, also the corresponding figures for France, Germany, Italy, and the United States of America?
§ 36. Sir WILLIAM DAVISONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can give approximately for each of the 1873 past five years the taxation in sterling per head of the population in the United Kingdom and also in the United States of America, Germany, France, and Italy?
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Chamberlain)I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT tables containing such information as is available. I feel bound, however, to point out that international comparisons of this
| Taxation per head in 1934–14 and 1933–34. | |||||||
| — | 1913 or 1913–14. | 1934 or 1933–34. | |||||
| Central. | Local. | Total. | Central. | Local. | Total. | ||
| United Kingdom. | £3 11s. 5d. | £1 16s. 1d. | £5 7s. 6d. | £15 4s. 8d. | £3 12s. 1d. | £18 16s. 9d. | |
| France | … | Frs. 100.36 | ‡ | ‡ | 958.5 | ‡ | ‡ |
| Germany | … | Rms. 24.34 | 35.93 | 60.41 | 105.44 | 57.41 | 162.85 |
| Italy | … | Lire 56.32* | ‡ | ‡ | 369.3 | ‡ | ‡ |
| United States | $6.96 | 15.74 | 22.70 | 23.50 | 50.9† | 74.4 | |
| * For Italy in 1913–14 the net yield of monopolies is notavailable and the gross yield has been included. | |||||||
| † For 1932, being the latest available year. | |||||||
| ‡ Not available. |
| Taxation per head (Central Government only). | ||||||||||||||||||
| — | 1930 or 1929–30. | 1931 or 1930–31. | 1932 or 1931–32. | 1933 or 1932–33. | 1934 or 1933–34. | |||||||||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||||
| United Kingdom | … | … | 14 | 16 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 18 | 2 | 15 | 14 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 8 | |
| United States* | … | … | 6 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 3 | |
| Germany* | … | … | … | 7 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 4 |
| France | … | … | … | 9 | 17 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 10 |
| Italy* | … | … | … | 4 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| *Note.—Monopolies (other than Postal, Telegraph and Telephone) and in Italy lotteries are included in respect of their net yield. The United States tax revenue for 1933–34, as given above, includes 11s. 5d. per head for agricultural processing taxes. |
§ Subsidies by the Central Government to local revenues are included.
§ Conversions to sterling have been made in each case at the average rate of exchange for the relevant year.
| State and Local Taxation. | |||||||||||||||||
| The only published official information of which I am aware is: | |||||||||||||||||
| — | 1930 or 1929–30. | 1931 or 1930–31. | 1932 or 1931–32. | 1933 or 1932–33. | 1934 or 1933–34. | ||||||||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |||
| United Kingdom | … | … | 3 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 1 |
| United States | … | … | 10 | 17 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 2 | — | ||
| Germany | … | … | … | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | — |
§ kind are in many respects misleading and should be interpreted subject to numerous qualifications. Further in connection with the question of my hon. Friend the Member for South Kensington (Sir W. Davison) I should add that the expression of the tax revenue of one country in terms of the currency of another yields a result of doubtful significance.
§ Following are the tables: