§ 2. Sir G. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what sum he is expecting to collect in surtax during the year 1970–71; and how this is divided between surtax revenue derived, respectively, from earned and unearned incomes.
§ The Minister of State, Treasury (Mr. Terence Higgins)The Budget estimate was £277 million. I cannot divide this between earned and investment income because surtax is charged on the total of a mixed income and not on its separate parts.
§ Sir G. NabarroWill my right hon. Friend take early steps to rectify the blunders of an earlier Chancellor of the Exchequer who introduced this invidious distinction between earned and so-called unearned income, and will not my hon. Friend observe that so-called unearned income is the due dividend to persons who have devoted a lifetime to the practice of economy, thrift and honest investment?
§ Mr. HigginsThe views of my hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Sir G. Nabarro) on this subject are, of course, well known, and I have taken a careful note of them.
§ Mr. Fletcher-CookeOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Could my hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Sir G. Nabarro) explain to us what the end of the Question, as printed, means?
§ Mr. SpeakerI cannot, but I do not suppose it matters now.
§ Sir G. NabarroOn a point of order. Did I hear you say that it does not matter, Mr. Speaker?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman made that clear by asking a pellucidly clear supplementary question after the Minister's reply.
§ Sir G. NabarroIt is a typographical error, two lines having been transposed. It is the printers' fault and not mine.
§ Mr. SpeakerNobody suggested that it was the hon. Member's fault.
§ Sir B. Rhys WilliamsDoes my hon. Friend the Minister of State not agree that if surtax were abolished altogether the result would be an increase in the yield of revenue to the Exchequer?
§ Mr. HigginsMy hon. Friend's point would raise far wider questions than those raised in the original Question.
§ 12. Mr. Dykesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the yield from income tax collected on wages and salaries in the fiscal year 1969–70, and the yield in the same year from income tax collected from interest and dividend payments.
§ Mr. HigginsAbout £3,400 million was collected on salaries, wages and occupational pensions. The answer to the second part of the Question is £723 million.
§ Mr. DykesI am grateful to my hon. Friend for those figures. Do they not contribute to the ensemble of arguments against the irrational and anachronistic distinction between income tax on earned and so-called unearned income? Does not he agree that, far from there being disapprobation, there would be widespread approval for the abolition of this peculiar distinction?
§ Mr. HigginsAs I assured my hon. Friend the Member for Worcestershire, South (Sir G. Nabarro), my right hon. Friend will bear in mind this point in his considerations before the Budget.