§ 69. Mr. Buchanan (for Mr. McGovern)asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has formed an estimate of the number of private companies formed by wealthy men and women in Great Britain during the past five years; the names of the families involved in this method of evading death duties; whether he intends to initiate legislation for the purpose of preventing this form of evasion; and whether he will consider introducing a gift tax to operate retrospectively as a method of ending this evasion of death duties by rich families?
§ Sir J. SimonI am unable to furnish the hon. Member with statistics of the kind he asks for in the earlier part of his question. Private companies are of course formed for a great variety of purposes and the number registered annually is very considerable. I may say, however, that it is the practice of the Inland Revenue Department to examine the files of private companies with a view to obtaining information which, either alone or in conjunction with other information they are able to obtain, may be of assistance in connection with their administration 596 of the duties entrusted to them. With regard to the latter part of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the provisions of the Finance Act, 1930, which are being further strengthened by the present Finance Bill; and I would add that the whole question of tax avoidance, and of the efficacy of the machinery for checking it, is of course under constant review.