15 APRIL 1916, Page 13

THE INCOME TAX AND LARGE FAMILIES

[To TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] think the small voice of the father of a large family ought to be heard in these days of high Income Tax, but I am afraid, as he belongs to a hopeless minority, it will be in vain. In your leading article you say: "At any previous period of our history this new scale would have been described as a terrific tax, and its incidence cannot fail in many cases to be very severely felt " For years my Income Tax and school bills oom. blued have been 5s. in the pound, but where would the country be now if some of us had not put our money in children instead of stocks and shares ? Don't you think the time has come when the two assets to the nation should be treated on a more equal basis ? In the past the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always said that he could not afford relief to the fathers of large families as the loss of revenue would be so great, which means, I suppose, that he was unwilling to tax stocks and shares rather higher. This does not seem to me to be an insuperable objection, always bearing in mind that the value of those shares is entirely dependent on the fathers of families who provide their sons to fight for the country. Under the present Budget the tax on my income For Income Tax and school bills will work out at 10s. in the pound. If everybody's Income Tax was assessed at 10s. in the pound, and one shilling in the pound rebate was made for every child under eighteen years old, the burden would be equalized and the revenue much the gainer. Even then the bachelor would have the advantage of not paying so much in indirect taxation ; also rent, rates, and taxes are higher, as the larger the family the larger the house must be to hold them. In the old days of Is. Income Tax it was not so important, but 5s. is absolutely crushing. Another aspect of the ease is this. The man with a large family can only go on by selling out capital, the result being that his children will be debarred from marrying, anyhow until late in life, and the birth-rate will go on diminishing more rapidly.

P8.—I have six boys (four at school) and three girls, so speak feelingly.

[We have dealt with the subject in our "News of the Week" pare- graphs.—En. Spectator.]