§ 12 and 13. Mr. Costainasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many persons were employed by the 1208 Inland Revenue in devising, producing and distributing forms on 31st January, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968;
(2) how many forms were in use by the Inland Revenue at 31st January 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968.
§ Mr. Harold LeverOn the respective dates, 997, 1,070, 1,133 and 1,183 Inland Revenue forms were in public use including forms—other than stockletters—which convey information. 43 Inland Revenue officials are now solely employed in devising, producing and distributing forms but the information for earlier years is not available.
§ Mr. CostainDoes the hon. Gentleman realise the amount of work this entails for industry? Is this the way to modernise the taxation system?
§ Mr. LeverWe are always trying to simplify not only the forms but the taxation system they seek to serve. We have had some success and we will continue the process.
§ Mr. Frederic HarrisDoes the hon. Gentleman appreciate how expensive it is to a business to have to use staff on the unproductive work of filling in and returning these forms?
§ Mr. LeverEven if we produced a taxation system which was perfection itself, there would still be millions of forms of various sizes and kinds to be delivered to taxpayers and it would still take a certain expenditure of time in order to fill them in.