TAX BURDEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 2, 2 July 1941, Page 8

TAX BURDEN

THE BRITISH BUDGET

CHANCELLOR GRATIFIED

"SMILE OF WELCOME"

(Rec. 11.30 a-m.)

RUGBY, July 1

The Finance Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons today. ■

Exchequer returns showed that in the first three months of the financial year the total revenue amounted to £319,157,988, as compared with £188,169,450 in the corresponding period last year. Income tax reached £79,597,999, as against £23,299,000, while excess profits tax realised £40,595,000, as against £6,660,000.

During the debate, Mr.. Pethic. Lawrence described the Budget, and what the Chancellor had said, as "typically British." "Here we are," he said, "continuing to take burdens and taxation and conditions which were unimaginable a few years back, not with gloom and despair, but with a smile of welcome to the Chancellor who is castigating us in this violent manner."

Replying to the debate. Sir Kingsley Wood, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that looking back on the Budget he could not help feeling astonishment at the manner in which the burdens imposed had been accepted. His object had been to deal fairly with the community in sharing the burden of taxation. It was probably the realisation of that fact which accounted for its general acceptance. The question was not. whether Britain could finance the war, but whether it could be financed1 in a manner calculated to combat inflation and thus avoid the severest hardships on all classes of the community, including in particular those with the smallest resources. It was his desire and intention to fight relentlessly against inflation, and that would be his constant endeavour. He paid a tribute to the fine efforts of the voluntary savings movement, —8.0. W.