166	THE  BRITISH  APPROACH  TO  POLITICS
Estimated Revenue for 1938-1939.
* £
Motor Vehicle Duties	36,000,000
total receipts from taxes   ....   916,600,000
Post Office Net Receipt      ....	8,670,000
Post Office Fund		2,400,000
Crown Lands		1,330,000
Receipts from Sundry Loans       ...       .	5,250,000
Miscellaneous		10,500,000
total revenue	944*750,000
Income Tax is paid by single persons earning more than £125
a year and childless married couples earning over £225; where
the income is unearned the figures are £100 and £180. Income
above this level is called Taxable Income, but from this further
deductions are made, e.g., for children. On the first £135 of
Taxable Income a little less than one-third of the standard rate
of Income Tax is charged; beyond that the full rate, which is
now 55. 6d. in the £, applies. There are many complications in
Income Tax law, but the final effect is that some five and a half
million people pay the tax—that is, lefss than one-third of the total
number of income receivers. Many, of these pay only small sums;
a childless married couple earning £250 a year pay less than
i% of their income; if they had £1,500 a year they would pay
about 17% of it. Surtax falls on taxable incomes above £1,500,
and millionaires with £50,000 a year will pay away more than
40% of it in direct taxation. Estate Duties ("Death Duties*')
are charged when property changes hands owing to death, but
only one^fifth of those who die leave sufficient property to be
considered. A very rich man, by dying well before the end of
the financial year, may make the difference between* deficit and
surplus to the Chancellor, so the Estimates for this tax are
particularly liable to error. Stamp Duties fall on cheques and