§ Mr. LAURENCE HARDYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that the revenue of ecclesiastical corporations, such as capitular 1427W bodies, is disbursed in the form of stipends to holders of offices attached to the corporations, and that such stipends are treated as earned income, he will arrange that the payment of Income Tax on their revenue may be paid in two instalments under Section 33 of the Finance Act, 1915, so that the receivers of the official stipends should not have to pay Income Tax six months earlier than other taxpayers in like circumstances?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe holders of offices attached to the corporations in question, who receive stipends out of income which is taxed at the source, bear the Income Tax appropriate to their stipends periodically by deduction from the payments which they receive. There is, therefore, no ground for an extension of the provisions of Section 33 of the Finance Act, 1915, to include these cases.
§ Mr. LAURENCE HARDYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the hardship caused by the limitation of the relief given by Section 33 of the Finance Act (No. 2), 1915, to Schedules B, D, and E, with reference to the payment of Income Tax in two instalments; whether he is aware that the exclusion of Schedule A from this relief presses specially hardly on all the beneficed clergy with regard to tithe-rent charge and also with regard to their official residences, although these residences form part of their official emoluments and are charged for Income Tax at the earned rate; and whether he can hold out any hope of remedying this grievance?
§ Mr. McKENNAFor reasons which I have indicated in Debate, I am unable at present to propose any extension of the statutory provisions governing the payment of Income Tax in two instalments. With regard to the particular case of clergymen whose income is mainly derived from tithe, the Board of Inland Revenue are always ready—in accordance with a long-standing practice—to consider applications for a reasonable extension of the time for payment where it is found difficult to pay the Income Tax at the time prescribed by law.