§ Mr. Gammansasked the Chancellor 01 the Exchequer the number of staff employed and the cost of the collection of Income Tax, Surtax, death and Estate Duties in the Departments of the Board of Inland Revenue; and similar informaation for the Customs and Excise and Purchase Tax Departments.
§ Mr. DaltonThe total number of staff employed in the Inland Revenue on the 1st January, 1946, was 36,793 and the estimated cost for the year to the 31st March, 1946, is £13,886,930. This figure is 1.48 per cent. of the estimated revenue for the same period. This staff is employed on the assessment and collection of Excess Profits Tax, National Defence Contribution and Stamp Duties, as well as on the duties referred to by the hon. Member; and as some staff is concerned 179W with more than one tax it is not possible to give precise figures of staff and cost for each tax. The hon. Member will find a considerable amount of information on the numbers and costs of the staff employed in the various branches of the Inland Revenue on page 13 et seq. of the 1945 Estimates for the Revenue Departments. The total number of staff employed in the Customs and Excise Department on 1st January, 1946, was 9,934 and the estimated cost for the year to 31st March, 1946, is £6,569,600. This figure is 0.58 per cent. of the estimated revenue for the same period. This staff is mainly employed on Revenue work, but also perform, as part of their ordinary duties, a variety of non-Revenue agency functions for other Departments, referred to on page 24 of the Report of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise for the year ended 31st March, 1945 (Cmd. 6703), to which reference is suggested. Precise dissection of staff and cost for Revenue, and non-Revenue, work is impracticable, but the cost of the non-Revenue work is estimated at £426,000. Whilst there is a small number of officers at headquarters and a few at important centres, wholly engaged on the administration and collection of Purchase Tax, the general position is that this work is also being done by the staff of the Customs and Excise Department as part of their ordinary duties and dissection of the above figures in respect of either staff or cost is again impracticable.