§ For my second relaxation I have been stimulated by the example of Mr. Khrushchev. I have read in the Press that he has announced the impending abolition of Income Tax. I felt that I must not be outdone. I hasten to prevent inordinate expectations being too quickly raised—it is not Income Tax of which I am proposing the total abolition. It is Corporation Duty. This tax was introduced in 1885 with the object of compensating the Exchequer for the loss of the death duties on property held by certain corporate and unincorporated bodies. There are wide exemptions, including bodies engaged in trade and all limited companies, and the yield of the tax is only about £150,000 a year.
§ The tax is arbitrary in its incidence and many of the amounts payable do not repay the trouble of collection. The Inland Revenue would be involved in a great deal of unremunerative work if it were to hunt out every case of possible liability. It is not sensible to maintain this troublesome duty for such a small yield to the Exchequer, and I have come to the conclusion that we ought to get rid of it. To abolish a tax entirely should surely qualify a Chancellor of the Exchequer for a monument, of sorts.