§ Mr. STEWARTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will explain why Income Tax is charged upon dividends received from Colonial investments received in 1914 before the War at 1s. 8d. in the £, whereas the rate upon dividends earned in foreign countries by companies registered in England and paid to the 741W shareholders in August, 1915, one year after the declaration of War, is only charged 1s. 6½d. in the £; and whether it is possible to so collect the tax that investments outside the British Empire shall contribute in taxation at least as much as investments within the Empire?
§ Mr. McKENNACompanies controlled from the United Kingdom are in any year chargeable in respect of their profits at precisely the same rate in the pound of Income Tax as dividends from foreign and Colonial investments received in the United Kingdom during that year. The fact that, on distributing its profits in the form of dividends, a British controlled company, wherever operating, is entitled to deduct Income Tax at the rate or rates in force during the period in which the profits were earned, involves no question of preferential treatment.