§ Major KELLEYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can give the cost of collecting the quarterly income tax on wage-earners and the amount realised after deductions and allowances; and what reduction could be made in the Inland Revenue staffs by abandoning this tax, which is unsuitable for times of industrial depression and unemployment?
634W
Mr. YOUNGThe estimated cost of assessment and collection of Income Tax from wage-earners assessed quarterly for the year 1922–23 is £800,000. The estimated net produce of tax from this source for that year is £5,000,000. If the quarterly system of assessment and collection were abandoned in favour of the half-yearly assessment and collection, the saving in a full year might be some £250,000, but that the loss on the receipts side in respect of duty which on this system would become irrecoverable would be so great as to counterbalance the whole projected saving.