We gather from the Times that members of all parties
are urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to tax a married woman's income soparat ly from that of her husband, and to abolish the present unfair practice of lumping the two incomes together for the purposes of taxation. Mr. Baldwin, the Financial Secretary to the Treaaury, said the other day that " it has always been an intolerable anomaly to feel that, so tar as tax- ation was concerned, it would be cheaper to live with a woman who was not your wife than with a woman who was." That is to say, a woman's rights of property are respected by the Income Tax Commissioners if she is unmarried, but are dis- regarded if she is married. This is not merely an indefensible anomaly ; it is also a very serious injustice to many compara- tively poor people. Now that the Income Tax rates are very high, numerous husbands and wives have to pay much more on their joint incomes than they would pay if the incomes were assessed separately, as they ought to be. Mr. Chamberlain will, we hope, put this right in his Budget.
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