A Select Committee of the Commons was appointed on Monday
to consider the proposed " tax on war-time increases of wealth," and to report whether such a tax was practicable. Sir Donald Maclean wanted the Committee to inquire also into the possibility of a levy on capital for the reduction of the National Debt, but his amendment was defeated by 167 votes to 62. Mr. Chamberlain said that, while he was opposed to a. capital levy, he favoured a levy on war wealth. He wished the Committee to report quickly so that he might deal with the matter in the coming Budget. The Committee must, he said, do nothing to discourage saving or to penalize those who had been thrifty during the war. Mr. Chamberlain declared that the wild talk about a capital levy was one of the causes of the prevailing extravagance, and that any check on the accumulation of capital was a disaster. Wo agree. What more fatal doctrine could be preached than that it is not worth while to save ?
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