HC Deb 24 July 1956 vol 557 cc203-5
41. Sir L. Plummer

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many taxpayers in this country are being allowed claims for expenses in excess of £10,000 a year.

Mr. H. Macmillan

Statistics of this nature about individual claims are not available. But I would remind the hon.

Gentleman that there is frequently a wide difference between the amount of expenses reimbursed by a company and the amount allowed for tax relief.

Sir L. Plummer

Why is the Chancellor being so coy in refusing to give this information? Does he not realise that great damage is being done to industrial relations by the revelation that some people are able to get away with enormous expenses? Is he also aware that hon. Members feel that they are treated by the Income Tax assessors very differently from the way in which Sir Bernard Docker is treated?

Mr. Macmillan

It would, of course, help me very much if I could break a long-established rule and give the facts of individual cases which are known to me, but it would be a breach of a privilege which has long been established, and it would be a very dangerous practice if Ministers were to be questioned about the tax returns of individuals.

Lieut.-Colonel Bromley- Davenport

Can my right hon. Friend say how much were the expenses of the hon. Member for Deptford (Sir L. Plummer) when he was running the groundnuts scheme, which cost the country over £36 million?

Mr. H. Wilson

My hon. Friend the Member for Deptford (Sir L. Plummer) was not asking the right hon. Gentleman to disclose the circumstances of individual taxpayers. However, since the Chancellor has told us that he is keeping the matter under review, will he explain how he can keep it properly under review if he does not collect for his own use the kind of statistics referred to in the Question? Secondly, is he not aware of the very strong feeling held in all parts of the country, and, I am sure, on both sides of the House, about the different treatment as between Schedule E employees, whether wage earners or salary earners up to a considerable figure, and those who can take advantage of business expenses?

Mr. Macmillan

The second part of the Question deals with a subject which we have discussed many times and is always a matter which can be reviewed. With regard to the first part, we make sample inquiries and of course we collect the statistics, but I am very loth to be drawn, even to my own advantage in the argument, into dealing with what would gradually become questions about individual taxpayers.