§ Mr. Adamsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can make any announcement regarding the continuance of the special Income Tax arrangement with building societies.
§ Sir S. CrippsI have already authorised the continuance of this arrangement until April, 1952, and following discussions between the Inland Revenue Department and the Building Societies Association I have come to the conclusion that it is desirable that the arrangement should continue beyond that date, subject to periodical review. I consider, however, that in future the Revenue's power to enter into the arrangement should rest on a statutory basis. I have accordingly informed the Building Societies Association that I shall be prepared to authorise the continuance of the arrangement for a further period of five years in the first instance, i.e., up to April, 1957, provided that the necessary enabling legislation is passed by Parliament in next year's Finance Bill. I should add that I would propose in the legislation to regularise the position of Surtax payers who invest money in building societies, for the arrangement at present gives rise to the anomaly that they are charged Surtax on the amount actually received from their investment instead of on that amount plus Income Tax.