§ 10. Mr. W. Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will enumerate the difficulties which are preventing the taxation of incomes derived from tax-free toll bridges.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThe withdrawal of the statutory exemptions from taxation which certain toll bridges at present 780 enjoy would require legislation in a Finance Bill. On this I have nothing to add to what I said in reply to the hon. Member's Question and supplementaries on 17th March.
§ Mr. HamiltonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that his Answer was that the Government had no intention of taking action because of the apparently insuperable difficulties of the case? Since this has been going on for more than two years and the Government had an opportunity of legislating for it in last year's Finance Bill, will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to take urgent action? Otherwise, his appeals for an incomes policy are ludicrous.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI shall not be led into anticipating the Budget or the Finance Bill, but I would ask the hon. Member to reflect whether he really thinks that we shall help to achieve an incomes policy by suggesting that it is self-evident that a Government should unilaterally break a bargain even though it was made many years ago.
§ Mr. ManuelWould the owner of a tax-free toll bridge be committing any infringement of the law if he did not give a receipt for money paid?
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThat is certainly not a matter for me.