§ Lieut.-Colonel NALLasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to allow farmers' co-operative societies, in addition to the direct financial assistance promised by the Minister of Agriculture, continued exemption from Income Tax?
§ Major BOYD-CARPENTERMy hon. Friend is under a misapprehension in thinking that co-operative societies are exempt from Income Tax. As is evidenced by the Report of the Royal Commission on the Income Tax (Cmd. 615), the tax paid by them and their members under the legal provisions which govern their case does not greatly differ from that which would be payable under general Income Tax law. The matter to which my hon. Friend refers affords no ground in my judgment for altering the existing Income Tax law.