DEFERRED PAY RELEASE AND CAPITAL LEVY 49

and the release of the blocked deposits need besimultaneous.

It is often argued in labour circles that a CapitalLevy should form part of the immediate pro-gramme for the finance of the war. The soundreasons which lie behind this, namely that thewar should be an occasion for diminishing ratherthan for increasing the existing inequalities ofwealth, are completely met by the above pro-posal. At the same time, the great and indeedoverwhelming objections to an immediate war-time levy are avoided. I am not thinking mainlyof the administrative difficulties, though thesemight prove insuperable. The main point is thata Capital Levy now would do little or nothing tosolve the immediate problem. A Capital Levy ona scale worth having could not be met out ofthe current consumption of the wealthy. Theycould only pay it by handing over assets to theGovernment, the capital value of which would beof no assistance whatever to the immediate finan-cial task. Nothing is of the least use now whichdoes not diminish consumption out of currentincome; and for the reasons which I have givenin Chapter IV no expedient can be adequate whichallows the increased purchasing power of the lowerincome groups to materialise in a correspondingincrease in their consumption. There is no avoidinga postponement of expenditure on the part of thisgroup, except by inflation which allows them tospend and deprives them of the fruit of spending.But the proposal here made secures them theultimate enjoyment of their earnings unabated.