HC Deb 22 June 1965 vol 714 cc1452-3
18. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, following the passage of the Finance Bill, he will publish a booklet explaining to taxpayers their obligations.

Mr. Callaghan

The Board of Inland Revenue will issue explanatory booklets on the taxation of capital gains and on the Corporation Tax.

Mr. Shinwell

I am obliged to my right hon. Friend for that reply and I look forward to this publication. Will he ensure that hon. and right hon. Members opposite have a copy, even if it is provided free, so that they may be fully acquainted in particular with the Amendments which they have put down and which my right hon. Friend has agreed to?

Mr. Callaghan

I should like to consider that, although, in the interests of economy, it would perhaps be better to send copies of the booklet to a large number of the companies which may have been misled by some of the propaganda which the party opposite has put out.

Sir H. Harrison

In preparing this booklet, will the Chancellor of the Exchequer consult leading members of the Opposition Front Bench so that something sensible and clear can be written?

Mr. Callaghan

I am glad to say that I have received considerable help from the right hon. and learned Member for Wirral (Mr. Selwyn Lloyd), who issued a corresponding booklet after the enactment of the short-term Capital Gains Tax.

Mr. Heath

Does the Chancellor realise that the country and industry in particular thoroughly agree with what his hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Cheetham (Mr. Harold Lever) said, that if there are any misunderstandings about this Finance Bill in industry and financial circles, the Government have only themselves to blame?

Mr. Callaghan

My hon. Friend has made so many speeches that I never know whether I am to listen to the ones in which he praises me or those in which he attacks me.