§ 1 and 2. Mr. Houghtonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he is aware of the saving in work and staff to be gained by the transfer of much of the work on the assessment of Surtax from the office of the Special Commissioners to local tax offices; and what consideration he has given to the matter;
(2) what considerations of efficiency, convenience and economy have led him to provide for the assessment and collection of Surtax by a separate and centralised branch of the Inland Revenue.
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Henry Brooke)Supertax, and Surtax which replaced it in 1927, have been handled by a centralised office since Supertax was introduced in 1909. The Board of Inland Revenue has recently considered whether it is desirable and economical to transfer some of the work to local offices, but no decision has been reached pending consideration of any recommendations from the Royal Commission on Income Tax which might bear on the matter.
§ 17. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give an estimate of the amount it would cost to increase the Surtax limit from £2,000 per annum to £2,500, £3,000, £3,500, £4,000, and £5,000, respectively.
§ Mr. H. BrookeThe estimated costs in a full year of increasing the Surtax limit from £2, 000 to £2,500, £3,000, £3,500, £4,000, and £5,000, would be £24 million, £41 million, £54 million, £65 million, and £81 million, respectively. These estimates assume that the rates of 2032 Surtax charged on the successive slices of income above the new limits would be the same as at present.
§ Mr. OsborneWill my hon. Friend draw the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to these figures and ask him to bear in mind the middle-class taxpayer when drawing up the Budget?