THE INCOME TAX.
1-To TILE EDITOR OF TUB " SPECTATOIC.39 SIR,—The average for three years preceding the year of assessment, taken as the basis for assessment for the current year, will operate very harshly upon me and many like me, whose earnings have fallen off so seriously since the war. I am told that I ought net to grumble because thirty-odd years ago, when I began to pay Income Tax, I was assessed on an average income which was less than the actual. At that time, however, the tax was about 8d. in the pound, and now it is 2s, id. on earned income. It has occurred to me that if the average were abandoned the Treasury would gain almost as much as it would lose, because rising incomes derived from war (and other) profits would be taxed at the full amount. Even if the gain and loss did not balance, it would be preferable to raise the rates slightly on earned income rather than penalize the impoverished at the expense of the prosperous. In the hope that this suggestion may reach the eye of Mr. McKenna, I venture to ask you to print this letter.—I am, Sir, So., A WORKING JOURNALIST.
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