§ 22. Mr. Croninasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give an approximate estimate as to the extent to which imports will increase and the balance of payments will be affected in the coming fiscal year as a consequence of the tax reliefs and repayments of postwar credits in his recent Budget.
Mr. AmoryIt is approximately estimated that the tax reliefs and repayments of post-war credits proposed in the Budget might lead to an increase in imports of £60 to £70 million in the present fiscal year. The balance of payments would be affected but to a lesser extent, since the greater earnings of our overseas customers would enable them to buy more from us. Hence our exports and invisible earnings would also be 204 bigger than would otherwise have been the case.
§ Mr. CroninWill the Chancellor of the Exchequer at least reassure the beneficiaries of his Budget that if this eventuates and there is a drain on sterling in the autumn, and if the Prime Minister still shows his present reluctance to go to the country, he will find some means of withdrawing their benefits?
Mr. AmoryThe hon. Gentleman can rely on me to take all appropriate steps in any economic circumstances that may arise.
§ 29. Mr. Swinglerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what number and proportion of Income Tax payers pay Surtax; and what is the average amount of tax relief per head they receive from his Budget.
Mr. AmoryThree hundred and seventy thousand, or 2 per cent. of all Income Tax payers who get an average relief of £115.
§ Mr. SwinglerDoes the Chancellor recall that last week the Economic Secretary to the Treasury told us that £40 million a year, or 24 per cent. of the reliefs in the right hon. Gentleman's Budget, went to Surtax payers? Can we therefore take it from his Answer now that it was his intention that the 2 per cent. who are the richest taxpayers in the country should have 24 per cent. of the reliefs in the Budget?
Mr. AmoryWhen the standard rate of tax is reduced the biggest actual reduction goes to those who pay the highest amount of tax, but the effects of the reductions which I have proposed will mean that Surtax payers as a whole will get a smaller proportionate reduction in their tax.
§ 37. Mr. Jayasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the amount of Income Tax relief given in this year's Budget to a man with an income of £750 a year, all earned, and to a man with the same income all unearned, respectively.
Mr. AmoryA single man will receive £12 2s. 6d. relief if his income is wholly earned and £18 7s. 6d. if it is wholly unearned. The comparable figures for a married man without children are £8 11s. 8d. and £14 12s. 6d., respectively.
§ Mr. JayWas it deliberately or unintentionally that the Chancellor throughout his Budget gave more relief to those with unearned income than to those with earned income?
§ Mr. JayIs not that in itself a condemnation of reducing the standard rate without a simultaneous reduction in the earned and other personal allowances?
Mr. AmoryNo, Sir, not at all. The fact is that those who pay more get the bigger total reductions, but they get a smaller proportionate reduction in their total tax.