PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 869
but we take out of the capital that the man has left. In the case of income tax we take something from the current income that he earns. Sir, I should like to say that this is a very superficial distinction, for ultimately there is no distinction between the income tax and the estate duty because the estate duty is merely nothing more than accumulated income which is taxed at one source, at one defined period, namely, when the man is dead. Now, it seems to me a matter of considerable importance as to whether the tax that you levy at the death of the man is likely to produce effects which would dry up the source of revenue, or whether it is so good, and the country is so resilient, that nothwithstanding the estate duty the country produces more and therefore it does not matter whether you levy the estate duty and it does not matter at what pitch you levy it. My hon. friend must be knowing the facts much more than I do, but I would like to tell the House some of the figures in Great Britain. I have taken them from the report of the Board of Revenue for 1951-52. They give relevant figures. In 1942-43 the total amount of income tax collected in Great Britain was 18 million pounds and in 1951-52 it was 20 million pounds. So far as the death duties are concerned, in 1942-43 the total collection was £93,340,343 and in 1951-52 the total collection was £182,600,643. I would like the house to consider similar figures so far as this country is concerned. Sir, my Hon. friend, the Finance Minister must be aware of the recent report that was made by one of the U.N.E.S.C.O. Committees. There are so many committees in the U.N.E.S.C.O. There was a Committee which investigated into the question of finding out why the South Asiatic Countries were so backward in the matter of their industrial and economic advancement. And the reason that they gave was that the saving in the country was so small that there was no capital formation at all. And in the absence of capital formation, there was the absence of industry and other things. Of course, if we were a Communist Country—and I have no doubt that we shall very soon become one—and our economic life or industrial life or agricultural life was taken charge of by the Government, for better or for worse, it would matter very little how much we save and how much we do not save.