RATIONING, PRICE AND WAGE CONTROL 57

the prices of a limited range of necessities mightbe no longer prohibitive. I suggest, therefore,(contingently on the adoption of a scheme fordeferment of pay) that a limited range of essentials,considerably narrower than the list covered bythe Ministry of Labour Index Number for thecost of living, should be drawn up and that theGovernment (without giving any specific pledge)should do their best to prevent any rise in anindex number based on the cost of these articles;and that on their side the Trade Unions (alsowithout giving any specific pledge) should agreethat they will not press for any wage increaseson the grounds of the cost of living, except in sofar as the Government may be unsuccessful inkeeping the above index number from rising.This suggestion is in no way essential to our mainproposals, but is a further development whichthese proposals would facilitate.

CHAPTER IX

VOLUNTARY SAVING AND THE MECHANISMOF INFLATION

There exist alternatives to the plan proposed inthe previous chapters which are not less drasticand, if they were to be put into operation, not lesseffective. For example, a retail sales-tax of 50 percent or a wages-tax of 20 per cent; or, as I havepointed out above, a heavier income tax, theincreased incidence of which was exactly the same

E