Lord Robert Cecil opened a debate on the second reading
of the Finance Bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Government's White Paper, he said, showed some consciousness of sin, but did not promise amendment. The expenditure, even If reduced to £950,000,000, would still be too high. He was reminded of the Red Queen's remark to Alice, "You -must run very feat indeed in order to remain- where you are." It was the Sue and not the method of the taxes that the Government Should consider. Sir Donald Maclean said that taxation must be reduced ; we "could not raise taxes out of income which Was non-existent,' for many -men were paying their taxes out
of bankers' loans. Sir Robert Horne, in reply, said that he hoped to achieve some reduction even this year. Before the war we were spending £208,000,000—the equivalent of £416,000,000 now, and to that must be added £320,000,000 for the Debt, £120,000,000 for pensions, £100,000,000 for Debt redemption, so that there could be no remission of taxation. The Chancellor's rough estimate, it will be seen, included the old Debt charge of £28,000,000 twice over, apart from the present Debt charge, so that it leaves room for considerable economies.
Previous page
