§ 38. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why he is unable to give details of the amounts of Income Tax owing to the Inland Revenue by persons who declared themselves bankrupt since 1959; and whether, without causing, too much work to those involved, he will give details for any stated convenient period of time.
§ Mr. Harold LeverThe only figures readily available are of tax finally written off as irrecoverable and are totals for all types of insolvencies (which would include not only bankruptcies but also insolvent company liquidations and certain other cases). They could not be amplified without an elaborate and time-consuming exercise in Inland Revenue offices.
Following are the figures:
The amounts of Income Tax (including Surtax) written off as irrecoverable in insolvency cases in recent years are as follows:
Amount of tax remitted Year of account £ million 1960 … … … 0.98 1961 … … … 1.15 1962 … … … 1.17 1963 … … … 1.39 1964 … … … 2.06 1965 … … … 1.61 1966 … … … 1.94 1967 … … … 2.08