§ Sir W. RUTHERFORDasked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the fact that the burden of taxation in this country is approximately five times per head the burden of taxation paid by Germans in their country; whether the time has now arrived when this should be reversed; whether British working-men are paying for their beer and tobacco five times as much as Germans; whether the burden of direct and other taxation upon British subjects engaged in industry and manufacture is five times as much as the corresponding burdens imposed on Germans; if the above proportions are not admitted will he state what the proportions actually are at the present time, and what steps the Government is taking, if any, to remedy these anomalies?
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Mr. CHAMBERLAINAs to the first part of the question, I will refer my hon. Friend to an answer I gave last Thursday to my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham (Mr. Denniss). I must not be taken as accepting his statements as to the proportionate burden of taxation in this country and Germany. Comparison is really not possible with the internal and external values of the German mark, so uncertain and variable as they are at the present moment. With regard to the rest, I may point out that under Annex II 12 (b) to the Reparation Clauses of the Treaty the Reparation Commission is required, in periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, to examine the German system of taxation and, inter alia, to satisfy itself that the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavy proportionately as that of any of the Powers represented on the Commission. These matters must necessarily come up for consideration at the forthcoming Conference.