HC Deb 09 April 1963 vol 675 cc1069-70
11. Mrs. Hart

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he proposes to take to minimise the financial losses to retailers which result from changes in Purchase Tax.

Mr. Barber

I refer the hon. Lady to the replies given to my hon. Friend the Member for Buckinghamshire, South (Mr. Ronald Bell) on 28th March and to the hon. Member for East Ham, South (Mr. Oram) on 2nd April.

Mrs. Hart

Will the hon. Gentleman accept that, in spite of the fact that the Hutton Committee in 1953 was unable to find any real solution to this problem, there is injustice to retailers, and will he undertake, since it is now 10 years since the Hutton Committee went into it, to establish another inquiry into the whole structure of Purchase Tax and the possible ways of avoiding injustice to retailers?

Mr. Barber

That raises very much wider issues. As regards the position of retailers in the circumstances outlined by the hon. Lady, I really do not think, after the investigation made by the Hutton Committee, that any useful purpose would be served by haying yet another one. The difficulty arises only when Purchase Tax is reduced, and I agree that the problem is relevant to the policies of this Government in contrast to those of the Labour Government when Purchase Tax was increased.

Mr. Stodart

Will my hon. Friend accept that this is not only a matter of financial loss or profit even when prices go up? Will he bear in mind that a tremendous amount of time and unproductive labour is expended by chemists in particular when they have literally to re-label with new prices every one of the many commodities in their stocks?

Mr. Barber

I agree to some extent with what my hon. Friend says, but I really cannot see how one can overcome the difficulties. The suggestion recently made by the chemists, I think, that there should be an adjustment in respect of deliveries during a specific period—say one month—prior to the tax change was the sort of solution which was considered by the Hutton Committee but rejected. I remind the House that many of the members of the Hutton Committee were themselves engaged in trade and would, I am sure, have been only too pleased to find a solution to this problem.