§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what penalties he proposes against the wives or children of a citizen where these dependants either refuse or fail to provide to the Revenue details of his financial circumstances on the grounds either that they do not possess, do not understand or do not wish to impart this information to others;
(2) whether he proposes that it should become an offence punishable by imprisonment for a spouse or child to refuse to disclose to the Revenue details of a citizen's income that may or may not be liable to tax;
(3) whether, in approaching the wife or children of a citizen for the purpose of establishing his liability or non-liability for tax, the Inland Revenue will advise the citizen that his family are being asked to provide such information;
(4) if he will further explain the circumstances in which the wife or children 609W of a citizen are to be required to furnish private information to the Revenue in respect of her husband's or their father's wages, or salary, savings or property and insurance assets as well as his relevant expenditure for tax deduction purposes;
(5) at what age the Revenue will judge that a child is competent to provide documents or other information pertinent to his or her parents' income or general financial position for the purpose of tax assessment;
(6) whether, under the proposals that the wife of a citizen may be required to provide information pertaining to his notional tax liability, he intends to do away with the common law presumption that a wife should not be required to bear witness against her husband, and vice versa.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI invite the hon. Member to await the publication of the Finance Bill.