19. Mr. Glenvil Hallasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what notifications have been received to the last convenient date under Section 27 of the Finance Act, 1951, distinguishing those received in respect of Post Office Savings Bank accounts and those from the joint stock banks and others; and how many of them disclose under assessments to tax.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerUp to 31st March, 1953, about 1,200,000 notifications have been received. Of this number about 600,000 have been received from the Post Office Savings Bank. Most of the notifications have now been examined, and under-assessment has been discovered or is suspected in about one-quarter of the cases. Of these, about 150,000 have been settled.
Mr. HallI wonder if the Chancellor would agree that the legislation passed in 1951 by the Labour Government was well worth while?
§ Mr. ButlerI should like to reserve my opinion upon that, but if that was the case I should say it was a remarkable exception.
§ Mr. MarloweIs it not the case that these Post Office Savings accounts are stated on the book to be confidential and secret, and that the legislation of the last Government broke that understanding and exposed them to the tax gatherer?