§ I have explained that the main purpose of the Budget is to restrain current consumption. This the measures already announced will help to do. But it would be wrong to deal with the matter simply by fresh taxation, and not also by the stimulation of savings. I propose to use both approaches, putting no less a weight on one than on the other. It would, of course, be much more popular to attempt to rely almost exclusively on the savings weapons. But it would not be wise. It would be a classic example of counting chickens before they are hatched.
§ Unfortunately, except for the purposes of weekend speeches by those who do not have responsibility, savings measures and additional taxation are not direct and immediate alternatives to each other. It is not possible to calculate the response to any savings scheme accurately in advance. And even if it were, it would still be uncertain how much of this response would come from genuine new savings, and how much from switching. Any Chancellor who in advance made the most optimistic assumptions on both these points, and used them as an excuse to opt out of his other responsibilities, would be indulging in wishful thinking of the most dangerous kind. I have not done that.
§ Hope is not a substitute for reality. But nor need we proceed without hope. [Interruption.] We can proceed with a combination of the two. The prudent approach is this: to the extent that we see a good continuing response to the savings measures, it should be possible in later years to impose correspondingly less taxation. That is the reality behind the slogan, "A pound saved is worth a pound taxed". We have to show people 1035 that this is of benefit to themselves as individuals as well as to the country as a whole. It is, therefore, now justifiable to offer more generous inducements than previous Chancellors have thought right.
§ My new proposals will in no way detract from the importance of more traditional forms of savings, and I turn first to improvements in some of the existing national savings facilities.