§ Sir G. Jonesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether, as persons with fixed investment incomes in trustee securities, such as pensioners, annuitants and beneficiaries, cannot adjust their incomes to any depreciation in the currency or any increase in Income Tax, whereas earned incomes, especially wages and smaller salaries, are still increasing, he will consider discontinuing, on equitable grounds, the higher rate on investment than on earned income:
1715W(2) whether he is aware that the present income tax distinction between earned and investment income originated from the Dilke Select Committee in 1896, interpreting the terms certain and precarious income in their terms of reference as being the equivalent of earned and unearned income; and whether, as this war and the last have prejudiced earned incomes more than unearned, he will consider whether the distinction should be further continued?
§ Sir K. WoodMy hon. Friend will not expect me to anticipate my Budget Statement, but I would remark that the distinction between unearned and earned income reflects, broadly speaking, the difference between the case of the taxpayer who has an income on which he can rely after he has ceased to be able to work and the taxpayer who, deriving his income from his labours, has to set aside part of that income to provide for his old age. I do not think that this distinction is invalidated by war conditions, but I would point out that the measure of earned income relief has been substantially reduced since the outbreak of war.