§ 18. Miss Fookesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that hearing aids and other aids where absolutely necessary in order to remain at work should be regarded as expenses for tax purposes.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesI am afraid that I cannot accept the hon. Member's suggestion.
§ Miss FookesIs not that a particularly mean and niggardly approach? What are we to make, then, of the so-called encouragement of people to work?
§ Mr. DaviesI have considerable sympathy with the point the hon. Lady is seeking to make, but it is very difficult for the tax system to provide tax relief in respect of expenditure incurred for a taxpayer's personal circumstances. This 1740 would lead to considerable injustice and anomalies for other taxpayers.
§ Mr. HooleyIs it not a principle of tax relief in this category that the relief be given for something that is absolutely indispensable—I forget the exact words—to doing the job? Is it not clear in the terms of this Question that such aids are indispensable to those people for doing their job and therefore conform to that long-established principle of tax relief?
§ Mr. DaviesNo, Sir. The aids are indispensable for the particular person to do his job, but they are not indispensable for people in general to do that same kind of job. That is the difficulty of trying to use the tax system to provide for those circumstances.