§ I now turn to the so-called "deficiency payments" under the present law. The law provides that any concern which has paid any Excess Profits Tax in any year is entitled to reclaim this from the Treasury, in whole or in part, if in any subsequent year its profits fall below the standard, thus showing a deficiency. A similar provision operating in the years after the last war greatly reduced the net yield of the Excess Profits Duty of that time, and, indeed, in some years more than offset the yield of the Duty to the Treasury. The Excess Profits Duty, in certain years after the last war, showed a minus yield to the Treasury; the deficiency payments more than ate up the payments due under the assessment. This is not a procedure which should be repeated. It might even pay a concern deliberately to sell at a loss in order to be able to undercut its competitors by attracting a deficiency payment, under this provision of the law, from public funds. I, therefore, propose to set a term to these deficiency payments and to provide that 1901 nothing more shall be payable under this head in respect of any accounting period after 31st December, 1946.