DOUBLE-INCOME TAX.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13927, 9 July 1917, Page 7

DOUBLE-INCOME TAX.

DEBATE IN THE COMMONS. RELIEF PROMISED AFTER THE ' WAR. (Per Cable—Press Association—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association) LONDON, July 5. The double income tax grievance.was discussed in the House of Commons. Mr Bryce moved an amendment on the Finance Bill, increasing the rebate from Is 6d to 3s in the pound upon doubletaxed incomes from the Dominions, Several members, in supporting the amendment, described the double tax as a great injustice, driving capital outside of the Empire with prejudicial results to the Dominions' credit. Mr Bonar Law sympathised with the Imperial aspect of the case, but regretted that he could not accept the amendment. He firmly believed that the future of the Empire depended upon the extent io which the Mother .country and the Dominions could help

. one another. A great step in that! /direction would be to give each other preferential treatment over the rest of the world. There was no better way of helping the Dominions than by sending them capital. He agreed that an adjustment was desirable, but the Government, could not take a chance •in the middle of the war. The Dominions quite understood that it was a • matter of adjusting an. equal division •, between the two exchequers. Even the Dominions' Prime Ministers ■ supported that principle, which would benefit the Dominions. They were content with •• an after-the-war adjustment, and it «l probably be found that the Dohis, after the war, would be betble to bear i-he burdens than the Country, whose resources were bei,iS more used up. In the meantime Great Britain needed every possible penny that taxation would' yield. The amendment was negatived by 143 votes to 80.