§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the level of corporate profits as a percentage of wages-cum-salaries pre-tax and post-tax for 1938 and for each year since 1945.
§ Mr. Nott,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 2nd November 1973; Vol. 863, c. 26.], gave the following information:
As a percentage of wages and salaries the trading profits of companies were as follows:
Before deducting stock appreciation and capital consumption After deducting stock appreciation and capital consumption 1938 24.4 N.A. 1946 29.8 N.A. 1947 30.6 N.A. 1948 28.9 20.9 1949 27.9 20.8 1950 30.7 19.7 1951 32.2 21.5 1952 26.5 21.8 1953 26.6 22.2 1954 27.7 22.2 1955 28.3 22.0 1956 26.3 19.7 1957 26.1 19.5 1958 24.6 19.1 1959 26.1 19.9 1960 27.2 21.2 1961 24.5 17.7 1962 23.0 16.2 1963 25.0 18.0 1964 25.6 18.2 1965 24.8 17.3 1966 22.6 14.9 1967 22.1 15.0 1968 23.4 15.0 1969 21.4 12.4 1970 19.7 9.7 1971 19.5 9.7 1972 20.0 9.8 Data on capital consumption and stock appreciation are not available before 1948. There is no satisfactory basis for allocating taxes on total personal or company income to components of this income.