§ 16. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what modifications of the Selective Employment Tax are required to reduce the disproportionate burden placed on the South-West.
§ Mr. CallaghanI do not accept that there is a disproportionate burden on the South-West. The Selective Employment Tax is a tax on service industries and its incidence in the South-West, as in any other part of the country, is proportionate to the number of persons employed in these industries.
§ 37. Sir D. Rentonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Selective Employment Tax is frustrating the employment of mentally-handicapped people and causing others to be discharged from employment; and what steps he proposes to take to overcome these results of the imposition of that tax.
§ Mr. CallaghanI am glad to say there is no evidence that the Selective Employment Tax is having significantly adverse effects on the employment of the mentally-handicapped.