There are three arguments in favour of the Special Contribution. In the first place, I believe that, on balance, it will be counter-inflationary in its effect. It may not be entirely paid out of income, but in so far as it is paid out of capital, it will make the payers feel rather less rich than they were before, and to that extent it will tend to reduce their expenditure. Secondly, one great merit of this tax is that it will make a contribution to a more democratic and equal ownership of property in this country. That is another objective to which hon. Members opposite have in the past professed to adhere but about which they have never done anything very practical. Thirdly, it has this merit. As hon. Members behind me have pointed out, there have been some very large profits and some very large capital gains in this country in the last few years. It is not very easy to catch those capital gains directly for various technical reasons, but we believe that this contribution will very largely fall on the same people who have benefited by these hitherto untaxed capital gains.

Finally, for all those reasons we believe that this Budget is both economically right and socially just. You can call it an incentive Budget if you like because it transfers burdens away from active producers on to the property owners, or you can call it a housewives' Budget because it transfers the burden from women on to men and lightens the cost of household necessities. For all these reasons, I submit to the Committee that this is a wise and sane Budget.