Once the full implications of the Government’s proposals had sunk in, there was consternation and fury in the Lords. To finance the ongoing programme of reform, as well as to cover the cost of the eight new dreadnoughts demanded by the public to counter the perceived threat of German aggression, income tax was to be raised and death duties increased. Besides the introduction of a so-called ‘supertax’, there were to be taxes on tobacco, spirits, petrol and motor licences. Most controversial of all would be a parcel of land taxes. A levy of 20 per cent would be introduced on the increase of
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