§ Sir K. WOODasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the anomalies that exist, in connection with the treatment of controlled businesses as between the Ministry of Food and the Inland Revenue in respect of Excess Profits Duty; whether, in the case of certain flour mills, the Flour Mills Control has fixed the remuneration of the miller for running a certain mill commandeered for war supplies at £750 for the year 1917, and that the surveyor of taxes assessed this man for Excess Profits Duty at 80 per cent., as the mill had no pre-war standard; and whether he will make inquiries into the matter?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe administration of the Excess Profits Duty is vested solely in the, Board of Inland Revenue, and the liability to that duty is computed in accordance with the statutory provisions of the Finance Acts, under which 927W the tax is imposed. I understand that, in consequence of arrangements connected with the manufacture of flour, the Food Controller entered into agreements with controlled flour millers for the standardisation of their profits. These agreements, however, do not affect the statutory liability to Excess Profits Duty of those concerns.