Jennie Aste (Hansard, 31 March 1981)

§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyon (York)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the case of Jennie Aste, who applied to the Inland Revenue to pay 40 per cent. of her tax to the Overseas Development Administration". She wished to use that proportion to pay direct to the Overseas Development Administration. She applied to the collector of taxes in York and was initially refused. She then came to see me and showed me an acceptance of such a scheme by the collector of taxes in Wembley, which related to a London taxpayer. I sent that to the collector of taxes in York. Thereafter, he got in touch with my constituent and told her that she was entitled to do that if she wished. Therefore, she sent off the appropriate cheque. At no stage did the collector of taxes or any Treasury Minister get in touch with me direct, although the Chancellor of the Exchequer had earlier issued a circular to all hon. Members to the effect that when such issues arose they should write not to him but to the appropriate local official. That is why I wrote to the collector of taxes.

I then learnt from the newspapers that a statement had been issued by the Board of Inland Revenue after the House had risen on Thursday night. It said that it intended to go back on the assurance given by the collector and that a mistake had been made. Again, the appropriate Minister did not contact me. Only at 12.5 pm today did I receive a letter from the hon. and learned Member for Dover and Deal (Mr. Rees), the Minister of State, Treasury. In it he said that the Inland Revenue had made a mistake, because it had no discretion to allow a taxpayer to direct any part of her tax to anything other than the Consolidated Fund. He quoted no authority for that decision.

I was interested to see that the statement issued by the Board of Inland Revenue gave no authority for that 162 proposition. As I understand the income tax Acts, the collector of taxes and the Board of Inland Revenue have full discretion as to the manner in which they collect taxes. I have always understood that they could use that discretion in any way that they chose.

I realise this subject as a matter of urgency, because I have received hundreds of letters from those who wish to avail themselves of this facility. It is clear that many people would like to avoid paying taxes that will go towards armaments and would like the conscientious right to abstain from doing so. Indeed, in wartime people have the right to abstain from fighting. Although I do not subscribe to their view, I should like to give people this right.

The difficulty is that if the Board of Inland Revenue has a discretion that it can give with one statement and retract with another people will be denied their legitimate rights. Therefore, I ask the House for permission to raise this subject as a matter of urgency, so that the sincere wishes of hundreds of taxpayers may be given vent. They should be allowed to make their wishes known. If they were to be denied a right simply by the Minister's fiat, it would represent an arbitrary use of parliamentary power. I hope that the House would seek to curtail any such ministerial design.