I rise to make only two points. First, how much would this concession cost if the Clause was accepted? My own impression is that it would not be much. Second, would the Minister deal with this question of anomalies in regard to charges on income, for example, mortgage interest, which is accepted as a general charge on income? That is so although it re lates specifically to one particular item, namely, the purchase of a house. Of course, there is no corresponding hypothetical income now against which that can be set, as there was previously, when we had Schedule A on owner-occupiers. The main argument which I think the hon. Gentleman will put will be that feu duty is very much analogous to rent; but, after all, mortgage interest is also very much analogous to rent, because rent is, as I think the economists would describe it, merely a form of interest payment.

The whole question of charges on income is muddled at present. I do not believe that there is really any discernible principle running through the tax law on this matter. For example, the anomaly of the difference between the treatment of bank overdraft interest and the treatment of hire purchase interest ought to be looked at. The whole question seems to be full of anomalies. The fact is that what the Government did in 1963 did impose on certain owner-occupiers in Scotland not a reduction in their total tax liability, because of the abolition of Schedule A, but an increase. It does not seem to me that there was any reason in principle why that should have happened, if my hon. Friend's suggestion had been adopted in 1963. I think that the Government ought to look at the whole matter very carefully.