WHO IS RICHER ?
Snt,—The tables from The Economist, dated November 15th, 1947, quoted by Mr. Beck for comparative purposes in your issue of February 13th, 1948, are unfortunately chosen, in that the table of wage earnings gives figures of average weekly earnings after tax, whereas the table of approximate profits of public companies shows figures from which have been deducted merely E.P.T., N.D.C. and Profits Tax. It should hardly be necessary to remind Mr. Beck that the holders of shares in public companies have, if anything, rather more income tax to pay proportionately than the average wage-earner, who receives relief in respect of his earned income, but even if this unevenness is discounted, it is hardly fair to compare a wage-earner's remuneration after tax with a shareholder's income before deducting his income tax. Should income tax be taken into account in the table of public companies' approximate profits, it would be found that the divergence between the wage-earner's increased income and that
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