INCOME TAX. BUDGET PROPOSALS ADOPTED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1909, Page 7

INCOME TAX. BUDGET PROPOSALS ADOPTED.

MR. ASQUITH'S CASE. 'BURDEN ON CAPITAL NOT EXCESSIVE. By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. LONDON, 18th May. The 'House of Commons yesterday adopted the Budget resolution increasing the incomo tax on incomes over £2000 a year. In the course of the discussion Mr. Evelyn Cecil (Unionist member for Aston Manor) emphasised the statements in tho letter pent by loading bankers and merchants to the Prime Minister, objecting to the new taxes, including the increased income tax and death duties and the reduction of the sinking fund payments. (Mr. iAsquith, Prime Minister, in his reply, cited admissions in the bankers' memorial and their statement that the signatories were prepared to bear their share of the increase in taxation. He argued that in view of the extra burdens falling upon liquor and tobacco, the burdens proposed to be placed upon capital were not excessive. He was not aware of any other method of raising these 'burdens more equitably, Mr. Asquith added that the taxes projected in France and tho existing Prussian super taxes were higher than, those proposed in the Budget. He reviewed the history of the income tax, and declared that he, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, had removed the most glaring anomalies by distinguishing' between earned and unearned incomes ; and he now regarded the permanency of the tax absolutely with an untroubled conscience. He believed that tho income tax was capable of still wider expansion in the event of an emergency. ABATEMENTS TO FATHERS OF FAMILIES. EXTENSION WANTED. ! (Received May 19, 8.15 a.m.) LONDON, 18th May. During the income tax debate in the House of Commons, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Mr. Bonar La;w (Conservative member for Dulwich), and Mi. E. G. Pretyman (formerly Secretary to the Admiralty), in the interests especially 'of younger men going to the colonies, vainly opposed the resolution withdrawing abatements to those not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lloyd-George), replied that those serving the Crown abroad were entitled to abatements. These were allowed to residents in Britain because the latter contribute to the revenue by means of indirect taxation.