INCOME TAX BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 30 July 1918)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD FINLAY)
My Lords, I rise for the purpose of moving that the House do resolve itself into Committee upon this Bill, and in making this Motion it is only right that I should give a short statement as to what has been done with this Bill. Your Lordships will recollect that it is a Con- 54 solidation Bill for the purpose of reducing to order the various provisions regarding Income Tax which have hitherto been scattered in different Acts.
When the Second Reading had been taken the Bill was necessarily sent to a Joint Select Committee of both Houses. That Committee has done its work with very great efficiency. It was presided over by my noble and learned friend Lord Loreburn in a way greatly to increase its efficiency. The Bill has been subjected to a very prolonged consideration by that Committee. There are a great many Amendments, and it would have been idle to print them separately as Amendments, but every one who has had to deal with Bills is aware that the only way of appreciating the effect of an Amendment is to write it out as part of the Bill which has to be amended. That is the course which the Committee have taken. They have printed the Bill with their Amendments in it, so that it is intelligible as a whole, and may be re-read by any one who desires to compare the Bill as it has come back from the Committee with the Bill as it was originally introduced in this House. I think that any one who compares the Bill as it now stands with the various Statutes in which the law of our Income Tax was scattered before this labour was undertaken, will feel that the result has been to produce order out of chaos. I think, therefore, that the Bill deserves the most favourable attention of your Lordships' House.
I desire to say only a very few words as to what has been done in the way of alteration by the Committee, so that your Lordships may be able to appreciate the value of their labours. They have done a good deal of rearrangement, and one very striking illustration of the benefit of the rearrangement they have effected is that the provisions of the various schedules relating to the Income Tax—so-called Schedules with which we are all painfully familiar, Schedules A, B, C, D and E—are now not in the body of the Act as they hitherto have been, mixed with the sections themselves, but are put into a Schedule, as we understand the term nowadays. There each notice stands in order with the rules relating to it printed beneath. I think this is a very great improvement, and it is not only an improvement in point of language. The provisions are now in a Schedule as that term is understood to-day, and they take 55 their place there in such a way as not to give any difficulty to those who are familiar with the Act as it stood.
I desire to say a few words as to the method which has been adopted by the Committee in dealing with the language of these Acts. They have so far as possible preserved the language of the old Acts. It was very undesirable that any change should be made unless it was necessary. In some cases, of course, some alteration was wanted, because there are portions of enactments which have become obsolete and some are ambiguous, and in rendering these enactments the course has been taken of putting them in a form which corresponds to the understanding not only in the Department but among the public as to what the effect of the enactments is.
The extreme care with which the work of the Committee in this respect has been done is well illustrated by a glance at pages 3, 4, and 5 of their Report, where is set out in detail a whole series of cases in which they thought that sonic change in the language was necessary, and they have given in the last column their reason for, and the nature of, the change. The conclusion that the Committee arrived at with regard to the result of their inquiry is summed up in paragraph (9) of the Report:— The Committee consider that the Bill as amended represents the existing statutory law relating to Income Tax, and that the Bill should be allowed to proceed. Your Lordships are aware that it was considered desirable by this House, when a Second Reading was accorded to this measure, that there should be in the first place only consolidation, and that it should not be mixed up with the work of amendment, because it is very desirable in itself to get the existing law into an intelligible state. The labours of the Committee followed upon admirable work that had already been done on the Bill by those who were responsible for preparing it in the first instance—that is the result of the labours of all parties—in order that not only the profession but the Income-Tax-payer should have a clear, intelligible and compendious statement of what the law is. Of course, that lays the foundations if it should hereafter be desired to make amendments in the law relating to Income Tax. You have first to get the existing law into proper shape, then you see what you have to deal with, and you are in a better position to appre- 56 ciate the amendment which it is proposed to make. The Committee, as they state in paragraph 9, consider that the Bill now embodies the existing statutory law, and that it should, be allowed to proceed.
There is only one other matter with regard to the work of the Committee that I desire to mention, and it is this. Difficulty had arisen with regard to the meaning of the word "person" in dealing with the section relating to a right to abatement of Income Tax where the income was below a certain sum, and the question was whether the word "person" included a corporation. The better opinion undoubtedly was that it did not. The matter has never been decided as regards a corporation by the highest tribunal. It had been decided by the House of Lords as regards an unincorporated body of persons. The Committee have intimated their opinion that the word "person" in that connection was not intended to include a corporation, but—and I think this shows the extreme caution with which the Committee have done their work—they have not themselves embodied an alteration to that effect in the Bill. They have contented themselves with recommending a form of amendment if it should commend itself to the House of Commons, which sets out clearly the application of that right to abatement to an individual who proves that his income is below the necessary amount. This portion of the Report, which is set out in the later paragraphs, and in Appendix II, is worth looking at as showing the extreme caution and jealousy with which the Committee have guarded themselves against any alteration of the language itself, beyond what was in their judgment absolutely necessary. The propriety of making that Amendment will no doubt be considered in the other House.
The labour of the Committee has been enormous, and they have held a great many sittings, they have spent three or four months over this Bill, and the result of their labour is produced in a form which ought to be very useful to all who are conversant with the income tax in any capacity, either as taxpayer or otherwise. I desire to express my very warmest thanks to all members who have served on this Joint Committee. The care and attention that they have given to the matter is beyond all praise. More particularly would I refer to the Chairman, the noble and learned Earl, Lord Loreburn, who so long has presided over that body with such admirable results. He has 57 bestowed an infinity of pains upon this measure, and has been most ably seconded by all the members of the Joint Committee. The work of the Committee has been materially facilitated by the aid given to them by the Parliamentary Counsel. I need not tell your Lordships how heavy the ordinary labours of Parliamentary counsel are, but with very great public spirit, Sir Frederick Liddell, Mr. Graham-Harrison and Mr. Godley took upon themselves the additional burden which dealing with this very elaborate Bill entails. I know how invaluable their assistance was to the Committee, and I think we ought to recognise that, in undertaking this additional labour, the Parliamentary counsel have rendered a service to the country.
The Report itself mentions what the Bill owes to Mr. Bertram Cox, the Solicitor of Inland Revenue. Paragraph 3 of the Report states that the original draft WS prepared by Mr. Bertram Cox "personally, not under official instructions but as a voluntary piece of work," that it was most carefully considered, and that "throughout these proceedings Mr. Bertram Cox continuously took a leading part in the work. It is not easy to over-rate the value of his services." I certainly can add my own testimony as to the zeal, enthusiasm and conspicuous ability which Mr. Bertram Cox brought to bear upon this very difficult subject. The Report also mentions the names of two other gentlemen who rendered valuable assistance to the Committee in the course of their labours, Mr. Holme, a well-known City solicitor, and Mr. Bremner, a Bencher of the Inner Temple. And the result of all this is that I think the House has before it a very efficient measure for the consolidation of the law with regard to Income-Tax as it stood. I have now to move that the House do resolve itself into Committee to consider the Amendments made in Select Committee.

THE MARQUESS OF CREWE
My Lords, I think it is appropriate that some lay member of the House should join in the tribute which the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack has paid to the work of the Joint Consolidation Committee on this subject. It must have been extraordinarily laborious, as is evident from the dimensions 58 of the Bill which has been presented to your Lordships. The subject of Income Tax is not a very attractive one at any time, and it has become more repellant, if possible, of late years; but obviously it is of general advantage that the law on the subject should be consolidated, and that the knowledge of it should be readily accessible to all those who are concerned in what always is bound to remain an exceedingly complicated matter. I merely rose to pay this tribute, and also to say a word upon the Motion which the noble and learned Lord will shortly make as to the suspension of Standing Order No. XXXIX in order to pass this Bill through all its stages to-day. We always look with some jealousy on the suspension of this Standing Order, but I think it right to say that, with regard to the subject-matter of the Bill, it is not one of course, which specially concerns us; and I feel certain that none of your Lordships will desire to protest on this occasion against the suspension of the Standing Order.

§ LORD PARMOOR
My Lords, as a member of the Committee I should like to say a word in support of what was said by the Lord Chancellor. I am sure that we could never have carried through our duties but for the assistance to which he has referred, especially that of Mr. Bertram Cox, Sir Frederick Liddell, and Mr. Holme.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
I have to move that the Amendments made in Select Committee be agreed to. As I stated, they are embodied in the Bill as now printed, and of course it would be idle to go through them in detail. We have the work of the Committee before us, and I think, in the circumstances, we should do right in accepting the result of that work.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, with a view to expediting the progress of this Bill, as every day is of sonic importance, and for the reasons that have been indicated by the noble Marquess the Leader of the Opposition, I beg now to move that the Standing Order be suspended so as to permit all the stages of this Bill to be taken to-day.

§ LORD MUIR MACKENZIE
My Lords, as one who was engaged during the whole of the summer upon this portentous Bill, I should like to say how glad I feel—and I am sure all the members of the Committee must also feel glad-—that, by his Motion this evening, the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack has shown that there is determination to try and carry this Bill into effect as an Act this session. There is no doubt that a very heavy task was imposed upon the Committee, and a still heavier task imposed upon those who assisted the Committee; and if we thought that our labours were going to be thrown away, or even to be postponed for a long time, it would naturally be somewhat of a disappointment. I am very glad to hear that the noble and learned Lord has made this Motion, which I trust the House will accept.