Major Morrisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that contributions by tenants of office buildings towards the repayment of capital expended on the compulsory construction of air-raid shelters are being assessed to Income Tax and Surtax, which is a breach of the concession made in order that owners of such buildings might recover from their tenants some part of the capital expenditure forced upon owners; and, since many such owners were compelled to borrow capital in order to pay for the shelters, will he introduce legislation to prevent these capital repayments from being treated as income for the purpose of taxation?
§ Sir K. WoodI assume that my hon. Friend has in mind increases of rent made under the Civil Defence Act, 1939, in respect of the provision of air-raid shelters. It has never been the intention that exemption from tax should be given in regard to such increases of rent. I would remind my Friend that the point was expressly dealt with in the proviso to Section 17 (1) of the Finance Act, 1938.