HC Deb 14 February 1957 vol 564 cc1420-1
12. Mr. John Hall

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the estimated loss of revenue in a full financial year at present rates of tax if personal earned income, marriage and children's allowances were allowed for Surtax.

Mr. Powell

About £34 million.

Mr. Hall

Is my hon. Friend aware that when I asked a similar Question last year, asking what would be the cost then of raising the Surtax level to £3,000, the answer was £27 million? Would not the figure now, in answer to my present Question, be rather less than that? In any case, whatever the figure is, is it not a small price to pay for lessening a little the heavy and unjust burden of taxation on brains in this country?

Mr. Powell

I cannot, of course, anticipate my right hon. Friend's Budget statement, but my right hon. Friend will have noted my hon. Friend's point.

13. Mr. John Hall

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the gross salary which in 1938 would have given a married man with two children the same purchasing value after tax as he receives today from a gross salary of £2,000.

Mr. Powell

For a married man with two children a gross salary of about £620 in 1938–39 would have given about the same purchasing power, after tax, as a salary of £2,000 at the present time.

Mr. Hall

Does my hon. Friend think that a level of purchasing power of £620 is the right level at which to start Surtax? Is he aware that it is because we in this country have the highest taxation in the Commonwealth on brains that so many of our able young men and women are thinking of emigration?

Mr. Powell

The starting level for Surtax is a matter for the Budget, which I cannot anticipate, but my right hon. Friend will be aware of my hon. Friend's point.

Mr. Chapman

Is it not a fact that there are only about 250,000 in this category anyway? After making allowance for the fact that only a few have young children, we are dealing with only a very few thousand, and, therefore, the case is not half as strong as the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. John Hall) makes it out to be.