§ Mr. Ivor Clemitson (Luton, East)Mr. Speaker, a constituent of mine, Mrs. Edith Foster, was sadly widowed last year. Since then she has become very actively concerned with the problems of other widows in the Luton area and has collected 4,210 signatures to the petition which I now have the honour to present.
The petition draws attention to the harsh way in which the taxation system bears upon widows, and it states:
The humble Petitioners of Luton and district, on behalf of the widows of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sheweth that they, the widows, are caused great hardship by the way in which their pensions and earnings are taxed.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that you will prevail upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide tax relief in the form of a revised group of code numbers for widows so that they are not taxed as single people and taking into account the special difficulties peculiar to them.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
§ To lie upon the Table.