§ Mr. John Hallasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the percentage increase or decrease in the financial year 1965–66 as against 1964–65 in the home sales of Scotch whisky and of other spirits, respectively, in the tax yield and in the actual tax yield against estimated yield.
§ Mr. MacDermotI have no figure for sales. Clearances from bonded warehouses of Scotch whisky and of other spirits declined by 9.1 per cent, and 11.0 per cent, respectively in 1965–66 compared with 1964–65. Revenue increased by 3.1 per cent, for Scotch whisky and by 0.1 per cent, for other spirits. The comparison is distorted by heavy pre-Budget forestalling early in 1965.
Separate Budget estimates of the duty yield are not made for the different types of spirits. The 1965–66 estimate for home-produced spirits of all types was £190 million and the outturn £193.4 million, a surplus of 1.8 per cent; for imported spirits the estimate was £56 million and the outturn £51.2 million, a deficiency of 8.6 per cent.