§ Mr. W. SHAWasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware of the great injustice which occurs through the working of the system of calculating the rate of exchange, upon which the income from foreign possessions is assessed on the mean rate for each of the three years of average, having regard to the phenomenal drop in the exchange in so many instances; that a retired Indian official, for example, would be compelled to pay on income now received from India at an exchange of 1s. 3d. tax calculated on the income he spent in past years in India at an exchange ranging up to double that rate; and that this position is still further aggravated in the case of income derived from many Continental countries, so that in many cases the tax payable greatly exceeds the income for the year; and whether, in order to effect a more equitable method, he would be prepared, by means of legislation, to strike the average in the foreign currency and to convert that average into sterling at the rate ruling on the first day of the year of charge, having regard to the fact that the Income Tax Acts do not deal specifically with this point?
Mr. YOUNGI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the answers given on the subject to the hon. Member for Finsbury (Lieut.-Colonel Archer-Shee) on the 14th and 23rd June, 1921. I am sending my hon. and gallant Friend copies of those answers.