FURTHER CONCESSIONS

Chronicle (Levin), 13 April 1946, Page 5

FURTHER CONCESSIONS

RELIEF FOR BRITISH TAXPAYER ! ! INCOME TAX IIOLDING BACK PRODUCTION Received Friday, 10.5 p.m. LONDON, April 12. Further concessions in inco.ne were forecast by the Chancellor of th:. Bxcheciuer (Mr. Hugh Dalton) in clo., ing the Buaget debate in tne House o. Commons late last night. ,Dr. Daxto.. added the warning, ' ' if we are to guaiv against inflation, we must not get oa. oi striking distaxxce of a baiancel Bud. get next ycar by excessive tax remis sions. ' ' The Chancellor pointed out that, ix. his two Budgets in less than a year, m had proposed tax reliefs totalling £50J, 000,000, of wlxich the major part wa. income tax, which he believed stoo., first among the taxes holding back pro duction axxd causing irritation. if A iuture a further reduction in taxatiox. was possible, he was inclined to give a substantial part in income tax, but fo_ infiationary reasons he must go slowly. Referring to proposals to exemp. ! overtime earnings from income tax, Dr i Dalton said this was a completely fan ! tastic proposition, which would subsx- ! dise absenteeisnx.

Referring to Britain 's reaction to th. Budget, the Chancellor said: ' ' Gx-e minded financiers in the City of London think that on the whole it is not a had Budget." He concluded: "We are entitled tc he reasonably confident of our future I see no reason why we should not. ' ' Perhaps the most noieworthy poixi j ahout Britain's Budget for overseas o^ | serverj who are not directly concerne. with its taxation reliei'S is the faet tiia less thaxx a year after the war, Dr. Dai ton ha's been able to announce that tln country is not far oif balancing its in ternal finaxices. Instead of the anticipated deficit fchit year of £1,000,000,000, Dr. Dalton 's estimates show that the deficit may uoi be more than £694,000,000. The dlil'er ence is partly accounted for hy the ua expected buoyancy of revenues. i When it is considered that in 1943 the year of pe,ik deficit, the gap be tween expenditure and revenue wat : nearly £3,000,000,000, while it was £2,200,000,000 ixx the last year, there ix | a feeliixg that Britain need not takf ■ over seriously the comment sometime:. i heard abroad. that thevwar has left hei i bankrupt.

TERMINAL ITEMS Though Dr. Dalton places the esti mated deficit af £694,000,000,- he 'aisf points out that by. deducting "termina iten.s" like war gratlxities and com ; pensation payments, which are no ' properly part of the State 's eurrent ac | couxxt, hut belong to the winding-up oi the war, the estimated deficit will b; ! oxxly £268,000,000. | Dr. Dalton regards the fact that ; Britain is not far oif a halanced-budge-j as " a most remarkable achievexnent. 1 j But his critics are not over-sanguine j in view of the tax reduetions, that fclx | attainment of it next year will he as I easy as he suggests. It is also pointe . ; out that the Chancellor based his estx matos on the assumption that Britain will get the Americaxi loan. Should thc loan not be - secured, an adverse eif ect on internal trade axid revenue wil.. occur.

On the whole, British comment on thc Budget is generally favourable, "optx Imistic" and "cautious" heing the twc adjectiVes most employed. It is also rexnarked that it is one oi the most artful Budget statemeixt. heard for many years, giviixg relief tc many and pain to only a few. There probahly is most satisf action axnong tlie sipaller v/age earners. The reduction of Is in the £1 on incomeFax, announced last October, togethe^ witt the iixcrease in the earned income allowance of from one-tenth to one-eightli the latter to he eft'ective from nexi October, and other concessions, mean that 300,000 people will no /longer pay income tax. Reduetions in the purclxase tax are particularly welcomed by house wives.