INCOME TAX.
[To THE EDITOR ON THE "SPECTATOR?') 110,—It may seem very simple to deduct tax at 5s., and then to return any excess after a year or so has elapsed and the claimant can prove his income to be less than £2,000, which he cannot do sooner, although be may in the meantime have had to keep creditors waiting for pay- ments. But if tax at 5s. is to be deducted in payments of rent, or interest on loans, whether secured on mortgage or otherwise, some important considerations arise. Supposing that in the case of deduc- tions from rent the claim is to be made against the Government, how is the claimant to prove the amount deducted ? And in the case of deductions from interest on loans, from whom is the receiver of interest to re-cover any excess of tax deducted ? If the Government is to undertake the repayment, how is the Government to get the money ? The borrower may not have paid the full tax in his return of income, and may have disappeared before any claim can be made upon him. If it is intended that the landlord or lender of money is to recover direct from his tenants or from borrowers, then he will have to disclose to each the details of his income I And, again, the borrower may have disappeared. If the tax at 5s. is not to be deducted in the case of rents and interest on loans, but only on income received from Govern- ment loans and dividends of companies, &c., then the holders of these will be receiving very unfair treatment as compared with that accorded to landlords and lenders of money. The really important point, however, is that the receiver of a rent or of interest on a private loan who is not in fact liable to a 5s. tax shall be secured against loss by over-deduction, and without having to produce details of his income and private affairs to his tenants or debtors or any persons other than Government officials who are pledged to secrecy. But over-deduction at first and a return afterwards must in any case entail such a large amount of clerical work on the part of Government officials and others that we may well wonder at the plan being proposed when every available man is wanted for the Army.—I am, Sir, &c., ZErrrss.
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