Mr Jack Diamond: I am very grateful to the Parliamentary Secretary for moving this Amendment.
Mr Jack Diamond: I should like to say how grateful I am to the Parliamentary Secretary, and I hope I shall not be out of Order in saying how grateful I am not only to him but to his officials for the assistance which they have given and which has resulted in what we regard, with one minor exception, as a very useful Measure appearing on the Statute Book. This has indeed been a most helpful discussion and one...
Mr Jack Diamond: rose—
Mr Jack Diamond: Perhaps the hon. and learned Gentleman will permit me to interrupt because he is always so accurate and what he says is always worth listening to. I must draw attention to the fact that he is not quite correct. Perhaps he will be good enough to tell the House that it is quite incorrect that only £625 is allowed to each director. There is the abatement which arises here.
Mr Jack Diamond: The hon. Gentleman told us of a meeting which actually took place, which of course interests us a great deal more than theoretical arguments. I understand it was a meeting at which he was encouraging small traders to export, and they were telling him that it was difficult, which we all appreciate. Would he mind telling us as a matter of fact how many of those would-be exporters said: "The...
Mr Jack Diamond: I am sorry to interrupt, and I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his courtesy in giving way. He will remember that I gave way to him on the last occasion. I want only to correct a misstatement which my hon. Friend has made in grossly exaggerating the amount of tax which will fall on this company. My hon. Friend, who is an expert in these matters, knows full well that the amount of additional...
Mr Jack Diamond: I must say that the concluding remarks of the hon. and learned Member for the Combined English Universities (Mr. H. Strauss) carried on to the full the tone which has been set in this Debate by the Opposition. I hope that I shall use the moderate words which I always endeavour to use in this House, but I must say that I have been shocked—sincerely and utterly shocked—at the general level...
Mr Jack Diamond: The hon. Gentleman opposite supports that view. The hon. Member for Monmouth went on to say: In the whole history of our human affairs no one has found other ways of getting these things done, particulary when the thing we want done is one which involves quite a considerable risk."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 9th November, 1949; Vol. 469, c. 1280.] How such a statement came to be made by an hon. and...
Mr Jack Diamond: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that interruption. When an hon. Gentleman does not happen to be here when a speech of his is referred to, it is only right that no advantage of him should be taken in his absence. I have done what I could in that matter. I was here when the hon. Member for Monmouth made his speech, and I have the whole of his speech in front of me. It is absolutely...
Mr Jack Diamond: I am delighted to hear that. If I have done the hon. Gentleman's speech an injustice, I apologise unreservedly. Why has this little Bill been designed? It is alleged that it will be a great disincentive to our would-be exporters. I deny that, as a chairman of a company which is doing its utmost to transfer its manufactures from the home market to the export market. I deny that there is at...
Mr Jack Diamond: Let us see what the amount of the taxation is, what the profits are, and whether businessmen can stand the amount of the tax. We do not want to go into all these figures again. I am sure that if I was able to satisfy the hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Nicholson) that my figures are right I should be able to satisfy anybody.
Mr Jack Diamond: The last time we went over this I thought he was satisfied.
Mr Jack Diamond: I thought he was satisfied on the simple case of the net effect on distributed profits of 7d. in the £. Nobody can deny that 5 per cent. is 1s. in the £; that is the amount of the additional Profits Tax on distributed profits: Income Tax is 9s. in the £, which reduces the effect by 9s. in the £ on 5 per cent., and we therefore get back to the figure of approximately 7d. in the £.
Mr Jack Diamond: I have the Floor at the moment, and I am entitled to do my own shooting at my own targets. The hon. Gentleman will no doubt do his shooting at different times and at different targets. I am now answering the point raised by the hon. Member for North Croydon (Mr. Frederic Harris), who says it is doubtful whether companies can afford this extra taxation. He is saying they cannot, and he asks me...
Mr Jack Diamond: I must be allowed to finish this. As hon. Members know, on Saturday and Monday no reports of annual general meetings appear. Tuesday, 8th November: Sales Attain All-Time Record. Wednesday, 9th November: Results Again Satisfactory.Larger Trading Profit.Satisfactory Year's Trading. I leave it to hon. Gentlemen opposite to interpret this next headline: Mr. Roland Jennings's Speech. I would not...
Mr Jack Diamond: Or both. He did not want the second, and if it were only that there would be no difficulty whatsoever in any company meeting this additional tax. His hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Sir A. Gridley) referred to a dividend of 5½ per cent.—a very reasonable dividend—and said, "Is anybody going to suggest that that is an excessive dividend? Yet this company will have to be faced with...
Mr Jack Diamond: I have not yet finished dealing with the hon. and learned Gentleman.
Mr Jack Diamond: The argument that reserves must be continually increased in order to meet replacements is fallacious, and is none the stronger because every Member opposite repeats it when he speaks. If reserves go up by only a ¼d. a company is still capable of replacing its assets.
Mr Jack Diamond: We are not dealing with the case where machinery was bought in 1900 and the factory did not buy another piece of machinery, but waited until 1945 and sold it all and then replaced it with new machinery. What we are dealing with here is the ordinary case where the company disposes of plant and makes a flat profit. Whenever a company replaces plant they sell their old plant at vastly more than...
Mr Jack Diamond: Mr. Diamond indicated dissent.