§ Sir J. WALTONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether when any other Government Department buys blocks of timber standing or felled from a landowner on a purely commercial basis without making any inquiry whatsoever as to whether the resulting profit, or any portion thereof, represents taxable gain his Department makes due inquiry, or whether it takes for granted that such transactions are of such a nature as to give rise to no taxable trade profit; whether his Department either does or has the power to ask a landowner to make a declaration on this point; if so, whether there have been cases where any Income Tax, Super-tax, or Excess Profits Duty has been paid upon the commercial profits of any such transactions; and whether any estimate has been formed of the extent to which landowners in various parts of the United Kingdom have been enabled by the weakness of the Inland Revenue Regulations to enjoy partial and accidental immunity from taxation, and thereby to retain tax-free sums of money, to the prejudice of other taxpayers in the country?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe Income Tax and Excess Profits Duty Acts already provide appropriate machinery for requiring returns and any other necessary parti-2234W culars from the persons chargeable. The hon. Member may rest assured that there is no failure to meet the statutory requirements as regards the assessment and collection of the duties in these cases.