§ Sir W. de FRECEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Income-tax arrears for periods as long as two years ago are now being collected from temporary War employçs, many of whom are unemployed or not in regular work; whether the Inland Revenue authorities are refusing to accept settlement by instalments even of a reasonable amount; and whether he will recommend these authorities to show such consideration to men making admittedly genuine offers of payment and who are not able to meet at once these Income-tax claims which, in many cases, are presented long after the men have left the employment in which the taxable money was originally earned?
Lieut.-Commander YOUNGI may remind my hon. Friend that, as was recently stated by me in reply to a question by the hon. and gallant Member for Dulwich (Sir F. Hall), it is the practice to acquiesce in reasonable arrangements for the payment of taxes in cases of genuine and proved inability to meet the demands of the revenue at the due date. I have no information as to the cases to which my hon. Friend refers, but if he will furnish me with particulars to enable them to be identified I will arrange for the matter to be looked into.