We are not now discussing the desirability or otherwise of the bonus issue but directing our minds to the desirability or otherwise of the Clause on the Paper. The bonus tax is not a tax on the accumulation of assets. It is a tax upon a pure financial transaction and that transaction is the issue of bonus shares. I cannot see the slightest justification for the proposal that is involved in this Clause. I suppose that every company tends to starts its life with its paid-up capital approximately equal to its assets, and if a company, having lost its assets, of its own volition writes down its nominal capital to the value of its assets, it is merely reverting to the status quo. It is merely reverting to its original virginal purity where these assets and its paid-up capital are equal. Why should a company making that mere voluntary financial transaction enjoy a more favourable position if things go well than a company which has not had losses and which has not voluntarily written down its capital? It has merely gone back to its original position. My objection to this Clause is that it introduces an entirely illogical element into the bonus tax. The bonus tax is perfectly logical. Hon. Gentlemen may or may not like it, but in itself it is consistent. If the Chancellor of the exchequer accepts this Clause, immediately he will introduce an element of inconsistency and, as a person of a very tidy mind, or at least one who prides himself on having a tidy mind on financial matters—