This Surtax, as the Labour Party calls it, must, of
course, not be confused with the present Surtax (Super- tax). Mr. Snowden, so far as we can learn, did not deal with the objection that the Labour Surtax could not be imposed without drawing upon the reserves of trading companies. The Labour Party has always been misled by the figures published in the Minority Report of the Colwyn Committee. That Report certainly did not justify the belief that some £90,000,000 a year can be raised without depleting capital. Next, Mr. Snowden would still further increase the Death Duties. He was horrified by the idea of " the dead ruling the living, " of a rich man being able to make his descendants independent from generation to generation. Finally, he would return to the taxation of land values—the scheme, attractive on paper and disastrous in its workings, which Mr. Lloyd George introduced and ultimately had to disown. The arrangement cost considerably more to administer than it brought into the Treasury.
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