HC Deb 15 April 1958 vol 586 cc76-9

6. Purchase tax (rates, etc.)

Motion made, and Question, That the following changes shall be made in purchase tax with effect, unless otherwise stated, from the sixteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight:— (1) Subject to the following provisions of this Resolution—

  1. (a) for any charge of tax at 90 per cent. there shall be substituted a charge at 60 per cent.;
  2. (b) for any charge at 60 per cent. or 50 per cent, there shall be substituted a charge at 30 per cent.;
  3. (c) for any charge at 30 per cent. under Group 5 (haberdashery), Group 10 (wallpaper and certain other papers and articles of paper), Group 16 (b) (garden furniture), Group 23 (b) (baskets and other cane or wicker receptacles) or Group 26 (c) (trophy cups, etc.), there shall be substituted a charge at 15 per cent.;
  4. (d) for any charge at 10 per cent. there shall be substituted a charge at 5 per cent.:
Provided that the reduction from 60 per cont. to 30 per cent. shall not apply to tax chargeable under Group 18 (wireless apparatus), to tax chargeable under Group 19 in respect of gramophones, radiogramophones, player pianos, musical boxes and similar instruments, or parts thereof or accessories thereto, or in respect of gramophones records, or to tax chargeable under Group 35 (road vehicles). (2) There shall be the following additional reductions in the case of the articles mentioned, that is to say,—
  1. (a) in the case of minor articles of apparel and in the case of accessories to apparel of the kind worn on the person, where the rate under Group 5 would be reduced under paragraph (1) above to 15 per cent., it shall instead be reduced to 5 per cent.;
  2. (b) in the case of tissues and fabrics exceeding 12 inches in width, where the rate under Group 7 would be so reduced to 5 per cent., tax shall not be chargeable under that Group;
  3. (c) in the case of calendars, postcards and lettercards and articles of any of the descriptions known as greeting cards, where the rate under Group 25 or 34 would be so reduced to 60 per cent., it shall instead be reduced to 30 per cent.;
  4. (d) in the case of nippers and knives (being toilet requisites), where the rate under Group 31 would be so reduced to 60 per cent., it shall instead be reduced to 30 per cent.;
  5. (e) in the case of baby dusting powders, where the rate under Group 32 would be so reduced to 60 per cent., it shall instead be reduced to 30 per cent.
 (3) The following provisions shall have effect as respects furs and fur articles—
  1. (a) for the purposes of any charge to tax or exemption from tax in the case of articles now comprised in Groups 1, 3 and 5 (garments, headgear and haberdashery), rabbit 77 skin and woolled sheep and lamb skin shall be treated as not being fur skin, and any such articles made wholly or partly of rabbit skin or woolled sheep or lamb skin shall he chargeable with the same tax (if any) as if not so made:
  2. (b) rabbit skin and woolled sheep and lamb skin now chargeable under Group 8 at 50 per cent. shall be chargeable at 5 per cent. (and not at 30 per cent., as provided by paragraph (1) above);
  3. (c) subject to sub-paragraph (a) above, headgear now comprised in Group 3 (g) (babies' wear) and by virtue thereof exempt from tax shall cease to be so, if made wholly or partly of fur skin (including any skin with fur, hair or wool attached) and not merely trimmed with fur skin;
  4. (d) subject to sub-paragraph (a) above, any tax chargeable under Group 5 on insoles made wholly or partly of fur skin (including any skin with fur, hair or wool attached) shall, notwithstanding paragraph (1) above, continue to be chargeable at 30 per cent. (the rate henceforth applicable under that Group to other articles so made).
 (4) The following provisions shall have effect as respects furniture and other articles comprised in Group 11—
  1. (a) the rate of 5 per cent. applicable under paragraph (b) of the Group to furniture of a kind used for domestic purposes and comprised in the list there set out shall apply also to furniture so comprised of a kind used for office purposes, and the list shall be extended so as to include articles named in the list but now excluded as made of metal, and so as to name hat, coat and umbrella stands and racks; and
  2. (b) the following articles shall be exempt from tax, namely,—
    1. (i) draught excluder strip; and
    2. (ii) water filters designed to remove bacteria and other suspended impurities from drinking water by mechanical means but not including filters also employing chemical reaction.
 (5) The following provisions shall have effect as respects appliances and apparatus of a kind used for domestic purposes and now comprised in Group 12—
  1. (a) tax shall be chargeable at 30 per cent. in respect of the following articles, including those now exempt from tax, that is to say, in respect of oil burning space heaters (including heaters of a kind used for cooking or boiling and also for space heating, but not including furnaces for central heating systems or hot water systems), but oil burners for such space heaters, if not suitable for use separately, shall be exempt from tax;
  2. (b) appliances of the sort described in paragraph (f) of the Group (which relates to certain heating appliances incorporating electric fans or electric pumps or both) shall cease to be exempt from tax if otherwise electrically operated or if operated by gas;
  3. (c) tax shall be chargeable at 30 per cent. in respect of cabinets, bases, covers, tables and stands for sewing machines.
 (6) Notwithstanding anything in paragraph (1) or (2) above, any tax chargeable in respect of the following articles shall be chargeable at 30 per cent., namely,—
  1. (a) hair pins, hair grips, hair curlers, dress combs, hair slides and similar articles;
  2. (b) beads, sequins and similar articles;
  3. (c) buttons, including shapes and moulds therefor, cuff inks and studs;
  4. (d) hat-pins;
  5. (e) tie-pins, tie-retainers, scarf rings, scarf holders, and similar articles,
and the exemption in Group 5 for pins of base metal shall no longer extend to hat-pins or tie-pins. (7) Tax shall also be chargeable at 30 per cent. in respect of grass boxes for lawn mowers. (8) The following articles, so far as they are now comprised in the provision mentioned in relation to them and by virtue thereof exempt from tax, or not chargeable under the Group in question, shall cease to be so, that is to say.—
  1. (a) Footwear, the following:—
    1. (i) protective boots designed for use by miners or quarrymen or moulders (Group 2 (b));
    2. (ii) clogs and other wooden-soled footwear (Group 2 (c));
  2. (b) Headgear, the following:—
 protective helmets designed for use by miners or quarrymen (Group 3 (c));
  1. (c) Haberdashery, the following:—
    1. (i) laces of a kind used for fastening garments or footwear (Group 5 (f));
    2. (ii) insoles (Group 5 (i));
  2. (d) Trunks, bags, wallets, jewel cases, pouches, purses, suit cases, attaché cases, baskets and similar receptacles of a kind used for personal or domestic purposes (whether fitted or not), the following:—
    1. (i) document, folio, despatch or brief cases (Group 23 (c));
    2. (ii) shopping-baskets and shopping bags (Group 23 (e)).
 9. In the case of calendars, postcards and lettercards, and of articles of any of the descriptions known as greeting cards, no reduction of tax for which provision is made above shall take effect until such date as Parliament may determine. The changes in purchase tax for which provision is made by this Resolution shall be subject to any Order of the Treasury made after the passing of any Act giving effect to this Resolution under section twenty-one of the Finance Act, 1948, as amended by any subsequent enactment. And it is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1913.—[Mr. Amory.] put and agreed to.

7. Purchase tax (meaning of "business")

Motion made, and Question, That provision shall be made for extending the meaning of the expression "business" for the purposes of purchase tax, and in particular for treating the performance by a local authority of the functions of the authority, and the carrying out by any other body of persons of the objects of that body, as constituting and as having at all times constituted a business for those purposes.—[Mr. Amory.] put and agreed to.

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