HC Deb 20 March 1945 vol 409 cc631-2
49. Mr. T. J. Brooks

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will remove the Purchase Tax from the following materials which are connected with internal fittings of houses and add to the cost to local authorities for replacements, etc., and thus eliminate the burden of cost which has to be met from their repair funds, bottom grates, grate frames, trivets, oven shelves, fireplaces, gas coppers, dustbins and copper fireback boilers.

Sir J. Anderson

The articles to which my hon. Friend refers cannot be dealt with in isolation and I am afraid that I do not at present see my way to make a special concession in regard to those articles.

Mr. Brooks

Is the Chancellor aware that this is really penalising working class homes as these articles are not really luxuries or ornamentations? Will the Chancellor not reconsider this matter as it is having a great effect on the cost to local authorities of the repair of bombed homes, and the change for which I ask would make a great difference?

Sir J. Anderson

I have made it clear more than once that it is not possible to vary the application of a particular tax by reference to the condition of the recipients of the taxed articles.

Mr. Silverman

Surely, in the case of articles of this kind, that principle ought to be the first to be applied. Surely the Chancellor thinks there is something very unfair in a case where, first, the enemy destroys a house, and then the Government put a tax on its replacement?

Sir J. Anderson

These matters have to be considered in relation to what is practicable. It is not possible to differentiate between an article which goes to replace something destroyed by the enemy, and an identical article purchased for another purpose.