§ 51. Sir N. Hulbertasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why, under his regulations, a television tube which has to have the gun replaced attracts Purchase Tax.
§ 54. Mr. Boardmanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that Customs and Excise has now ruled that repair costs of television tubes must now bear Purchase Tax with the result that an £8 job will now cost £12 16s.; and if he will rescind this new administrative imposition.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Derick Heathcoat Amory)Insertion of a fresh gun in a television tube amounts to the manufacture of a virtually fresh tube, and tax is therefore chargeable under the law. This is not a new imposition, and I see no reason to amend the law.
§ Sir N. HulbertIs my right hon. Friend aware that an engine, wheels and body can be replaced on a motor car without the whole vehicle attracting taxation for the second time? Why cannot this principle be applied to television tubes?
Mr. AmoryWithout more study, I am not sure that I would agree that there is a very great deal that a television tube and a motor car have in common.
§ Mr. BoardmanWould not the Chancellor agree that the imposition of this tax will tend to encourage people to buy a new tube instead of paying for this very expensive repair; that they will be enouraged to spend £18 where, previously, £8 was sufficient? Will he try to appreciate the utter futility of the Government talking to the trade unions about stability while their own policy is so blatantly inflationary?
Mr. AmoryNo. This is really a question of drawing a line—and it is a very difficult thing to do—between where a repair stops and a new component starts. If a person who has sent the tube for repair gets back the same tube and the same gun, repaired, Purchase Tax is not charged on the cost of the tube.
§ Sir A. V. HarveyIs my right hon. Friend aware that many members of the public are being exploited by the repairers, and that, frequently, the sets are not repaired at all, and that this very heavy tax which has to be paid falls very hard on those receiving small pensions? Would he look at the evidence on this matter that I sent to his right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade a few months ago?
Mr. AmoryI should be grateful if my hon. Friend would see that I got that evidence that he submitted. I do not think that I have seen it yet.
§ Mr. IsaacsCan the Chancellor say whether, before this imposition was made, representations were made to his Department by the manufacturers of new tubes?
Mr. AmoryI should like to repeat that there has not been a new imposition. There may, in some quarters, have been misapprehensions about the position, and I hope that any misapprehension has now been removed by the recent Press notices on this subject.