§ 71. Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what decision he has now reached concerning the undertaking he gave on 3rd March, 1959, that he would consider the desirability of introducing equality in the field of Purchase Tax on mouse traps, rat traps and fly swatters, at present applied to such devices only when used for domestic purposes; and whether he will undertake at an early date to ensure that all such devices for the destruction of verminous insects and rodents will be free of tax in the same way as rabbit traps and snares.
§ Mr. BarberOn the first part of the Question, my right hon. Friend's decision was embodied in his last Budget statement. On the second part, I cannot anticipate his next one.
§ 72. Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what grounds many luxury items such as cocktail cabinets, model gowns, vicuna overcoats and other items costing several hundred pounds each are charged to Purchase Tax at a rate only one-tenth of the rate of Purchase Tax on motor vehicles, essential toilet preparations and gramophone records of classical music; by what date he anticipates it will be possible to 144W dispose of such an anomaly as a lipstick purchase taxed at 50 per cent. paying ten times as much tax as a model gown purchased taxed at 5 per cent.; and what is the reason for such disparities in Purchase Tax rates.
§ Mr. BarberThe reasons underlying the system of Purchase Tax rates, and the considerations concerning luxuries and non-luxuries, were dealt with by my right hon. Friend during the passage of the Finance Bills of 1958 and last year, and there is nothing that I can usefully add.
§ Mr. Nabarroasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, having regard to the fact that baby cots, nursery chairs, baby car seats, baby trainers, baby high chairs, baby pram sets, baby walkers, baby props, and similar articles, are free of Purchase Tax, and also the fact that a garden gate, a farm gate, and a level-crossing gate are similarly free of Purchase Tax, why a baby gate, designed to prevent a baby falling down the stairs and for attachment to the top of the banisters, is specially selected to attract Purchase Tax at 12½ per cent.
§ Mr. BarberMy hon. Friend is in error in thinking that baby gates are specially selected to attract Purchase Tax. They are taxable as articles of domestic hardware.