An Income Tax case which, with true English per- sistence,
has been fought up to the House of Lords, has gone against the Inland Revenue authorities. The authorities maintained that they were justified in taxing the dividends from foreign investments on a three years' average. The appellant maintained that the three years' average did not apply to such investments and that he could not legally be required to pay any tax in a financial year in which there were no dividends. We feel bound to add that the principle of a three years' average is in general a great convenience to business men, as it distributes the tax more evenly over good years and bad. We do not know whether the decision of the House of Lords, being of limited application, will in practice make a great deal of difference, but the Inland Revenue authorities are evidently perturbed by it.
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