§ 30. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much more, approximately, would have to be paid in Purchase Tax, Income Tax, Surtax, Profits Tax, and Excise Duties, respectively, if the same rates of taxation imposed in the April, 1951, Budget were now operative.
§ Mr. SimonAt 1951 rates the estimated yield this year from Income Tax, Surtax and Profits Tax would be of the order of £1,200 million more than at current rates. No worthwhile comparable estimate of the yield from indirect taxation can be made because it is impossible to assess what would be the effects on consumer spending of the higher level of direct taxation in 1951, and because with 1951 rates of indirect taxation the pattern of consumption would probably be very different.