§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, since the present daily attendance allowance paid tax-free to Members of the House of Lords is worth to most of them on a normal tax basis as much as £100 a day and having regard 81W to the Government's policy of cuts in public expenditure, why he will not seek to tax these and similar payments.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 3 July 1980, c. 679]: It would not be possible to tax the allowance without a change in the law which would have wide repercussions, involving many other groups of taxpayers, but which would result in a negligible yield to public funds.