Again, private companies are to be under disabilities if they
are controlled by five or fewer shareholders. There is no apparent justification for this innovation, except a desire to harass the taxpayer on the mere suspicion that he is resorting to avoidance. Clauses 38 and 40 require Income Tax returns and claims to be sent to the Surveyors instead of the Assessors. One would have thought that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have learned from the experience of 1921, when an attempt to abolish the Assessors, who are the repre- sentatives of the taxpayer, had to be withdrawn in face of public indignation. Mr. Churchill answers that he is only doing what he promised—arranging for a single return of Income Tax and Super Tax, but there seems to be no reason why the single return should not be made to the Assessors—that is to say; to the Com- missioners of Taxes. The truth is that a certain amount of avoidance—fortunately, there is not a great deal— cannot be dealt with by any laws, and the attempt to alter this fact causes mischief worse than that which is aimed at.
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