§ Mr. PENNEFATHERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can state approximately the average yearly rate of indirect taxation per head of the population; the number of Income Tax payers and Super-tax payers, respectively; and the average yearly tax paid by each?
§ Major BOYD-CARPENTERIn the year 1922–23 the average amount of indirect taxation per head of population for Great Britain and Northern Ireland was £6 4s. 9d. out of a total taxation per head of £17 12s. The approximate number of individuals whose total assessable income for the year 1922–23 exceeded £135 is estimated at 4,750,000, of whom it is estimated that 2,250,000 will actually pay tax. The approximate net produce for the same year, that is the amount of tax which will be ultimately received by the Exchequer irrespective of the time of collection, is estimated at £278,000,000. A considerable but unknown part of this net produce relates to income not distributed to individual taxpayers,e.g., reserves made by companies, income accruing to clubs, corporations, etc., profits arising from trading in the United Kingdom by foreign companies, firms, etc., and income distributed to residents out of the United Kingdom. It is therefore not possible to state the average yearly tax paid by each taxpayer. As regards Super-tax, the number of tax-payers is provisionally estimated at 80,000 for the year 1922–23, and the net produce of the tax at £60,000,000, showing an average amount of tax per head of £750.