23. Mr. H. Wilsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set up a Commission or Departmental Committee to inquire into the provisions of the Finance Acts relating to Entertainments Duty.
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Henry Brooke)No, Sir. The representations which my right hon. Friend and I regularly receive about the Entertainments Duty serve to keep us fully informed about the working of the duty and its effects on the various branches of the entertainments industry.
Mr. WilsonThe extent of the right hon. Gentleman's information is not equalled by the action he takes. Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that over a long period of years in which this tax has been in force many anomalies have grown up, both within a particular industry, such as the cinema industry, 1484 and also in the relative burden borne by one form of entertainment as compared with another? In the circumstances, having regard to the very fine Report of the Royal Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income—though we may not accept all its conclusions—would not the right hon. Gentleman be prepared to set up an inquiry into the Entertainments Duty?
§ Mr. BrookeThe Entertainments Duty is really a very much simpler form of impost than Income Tax and Profits Tax and the other matters considered by the Royal Commission. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Financial Secretary receive deputations from virtually every branch of industry and interest affected by this duty. There is little that is not put to us. The great question is whether the duty is too high or not.