§ 15. Mr. Grimondasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give an estimate of the cost of administration and the yield, over any recent period, of a capital gains tax on either stocks and shares or land values, or both, at any given rate.
§ Mr. Selwyn LloydSuch an exercise would involve so many assumptions as to the date of introduction, scope and other features of the hypothetical tax, and therefore would involve so many complicated calculations that I am not prepared to undertake it.
§ Mr. GrimondAre we to understand that no study of possible sources of taxation such as the taxing of land values is being made? Many people are extremely concerned that such a heavy weight of taxation falls through Income Tax on earnings and that other forms of gain apparently go entirely untaxed. Is it not time that there was at least a study made of these matters?
§ Mr. LloydThere have been studies of the capital gains tax, and evidence 184 was given before the Radcliffe Commission on the Taxation of Profits and Income which, according to the calculations, indicated that the amount to be gained from a tax on capital gains was not very much.