Part of Orders of the Day — Finance Bill. – in the House of Commons am ar 7 Gorffennaf 1937.
Hon. Charles Wood
, City of York
The Chancellor of the exchequer is asking me a question. I was asking him one. If that is his statement, then it undermines the argument of the Attorney-General. The other argument of the Attorney-General was the argument that there might be difficulties, and the suggestion was made that this proposal would mean a bonus to those whose income is below the Income Tax level. There would not be nearly so much difficulty as is suggested. I have never had to make a claim for return of Income Tax on my own account, but some years ago I was an official of an educational body and it fell to my lot regularly to make claims for return of Income Tax. There was no difficulty about it. The Income Tax was deducted at the source and the organisation was not, as is. the case of many individuals, subject to Income Tax. All that I had to do was to fill in the form and in due course the Income Tax was returned, even up to three years back pay. If that is the case with regard to Income Tax, where would the difficulty arise if a similar claim is made in respect of National Defence Contribution by people who are not liable to Income Tax? It would not mean a bonus. It would simply mean that they would have returned to them the amount which they bad paid on the original demand.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
