HC Deb 15 July 1946 vol 425 cc956-8

The following Amendment stood upon the Order Paper in the name of Sir A. GRIDLEY:

In page 15, line 7, at the end, to insert: (4) Where by any provision of this or any subsequent Act any change is made in the classes of goods which are chargeable goods or in the rate at which tax is chargeable in respect of goods of any class,

  1. (a) any person is the owner of goods coming within that class for the purpose of resale and the purchase price paid by him for those goods includes tax or includes tax at the rate chargeable prior to the date of such change, he shall be entitled to declare to the seller to him of those goods the quantity of them belonging to him at that date and the amount of the tax included in such purchase which would not have been included if he had purchased them after the date of such change;
  2. (b) if the seller is a registered wholesaler or manufacturer he shall give a rebate to the claimant equal to such amount of tax on proof to his satisfaction of the amount of the purchase and of the tax included in the purchase, and he shall be entitled to claim from the Commissioners an amount equal to such rebate given to the claimant and the claim shall be satisfied by the Commissioners either by repayment or by deduction from tax otherwise due but not yet paid over to the Commissioners by such registered person;
  3. (c) if the seller who received a claim from the owner of the goods under paragraph (a) of this Subsection is not a registered person he may, on proof of the amount of the purchase and of the tax, claim from the seller to him of the goods an equal amount of tax and so on for each successive sale up to the first registered person in a series of sales of those goods;
  4. (d) the first registered person shall have the duties and rights mentioned in paragraph (b) of this Subsection and the claimant from him shall be obliged out of the moneys received by him to satisfy claims made upon 957 him and so on for each successive sale of those goods down to the owner of the goods on the date when the change mentioned in paragraph (a) is effective."

Mr. Speaker

This Amendment is not selected.

Captain Crookshank

On a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. May I submit to you, with all humility, that the purpose of this Amendment was to deal with what the Chancellor said in Committee, when we discussed some proposals which we put forward to deal with what was to happen when the Purchase Tax was reduced and goods were still left in the hands of the retailers? Perhaps I may quote what the Chancellor said: As the hon. Gentleman the Member for St. Marylebone (Sir W. Wakefield) has reminded me, I did say that we would see whether the position could be improved. We have gone into it with great care, and we have not been able to find any practical way in which this particular grievance can be removed. Certainly, the pursuit of this rather elusive goal can be continued. At present we have not found the answer nor has the hon. Gentleman who moved the Amendment"— [OFFICIAL REPORT, 20th June, 1946; Vol. 424, C. 424–5.] That was the position with regard to this proposal, and as a result, the Committee took a decision. This Amendment is now brought forward with an entirely new way, in the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Sir A. Gridley), of getting over the difficulty. For that reason, I respectfully ask whether you would reconsider your decision and allow us to discuss the plan.

Mr. Dalton

Further to that point of Order, Mr. Speaker, without wishing either to challenge or to seek to lend support to any decision you may make, I would point out that, although the right hon. and gallant Member for Gains-borough (Captain Crookshank) accurately quoted what I said, I did indicate that I was anxious to be conciliatory in order to ascertain the position, but I did not hold out a hope that we could in the near future find a solution for this, and in fact, we have not found it. It is one of those things which have to be pursued over a length of time, but we are no further now than we were in Committee towards finding any point of agreement between those who moved the Amendment and the Government.

Mr. Speaker

I am afraid that this Amendment, or a similar Amendment, was discussed for some time in Committee, and negatived. I took advice from the draftsmen and others, and I came to the conclusion that the proposal in this Amendment was not an alternative method, and therefore, I could not select it. I have not selected the next three Amendments. The next four Amendments are out of Order. The next Amendment was negatived in a Division—

Captain Crookshank

On a point of Order, Mr. Speaker. With regard to that Amendment to Clause 26—in page 19, line 23, at the end, insert "or (f) is payable to a charity"—may I respectfully submit that the Chancellor indicated that he would think about it again? We put this Amendment on the Order Paper in the hope that we would have the benefit of the Chancellor's reflection.

Mr. Dalton

I shall have to be very careful about saying that I will think again if this is what happens.

Mr. Speaker

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not put down any Amendment on this point.

Captain Crookshank

It is within my recollection that the Chancellor has sometimes accepted Amendments which have been brought forward, without necessarily putting his name to them. We had hoped that this was one of those occasions.