A MODERN DUKE OF PLAZATORO.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17472, 5 June 1922, Page 2

A MODERN DUKE OF PLAZATORO.

1 The Duke of Grafton, like the Duke of Plazatoro in "The Gondoliers," lias formed himself into a company. At Somerset House, aV company called the Grafton Estates Company has been formally registered, with the Duke and Duchess of Gralton as directors. It is said (reports the London corresponI dent of ".Melbourne Age") that other dukes and titled owners of large lioredi. tary estates are tinindng of following in the footsteps of the Duke of Grafton. The example of turning family estates into a company was tirst set by Lord Howard ue YV r alden, one of tne richest peers in England, who owns many acres of value property in the West End of London, thickly Covered with shops and other buildings. The object of these wealthy landowners in floating their estates into companies, the shares of which are distributed among members of their own families with the proviso that no shareholder shall sell his shares without first offering them to the other shareholders, is to escape the crushing burden of taxation. By this means they materially reduce the amount of income tax to which the income of the estate 16 liable, because the income tax paid by the shareholders on their dividends is assessed at a lower rate than the tax on the whole pf the profits as the income of one individual. There will also be a material Baving in the amount that has to be paid in death duties when the head of the family dies- The rate cf death duties varies, according to the valuo of the estate, the highest rate being 40 per cent, on estates of over £2,000,000. But in the case of a landholder who had formed his family estates into a company, the death duties would be charged only on the value of the shares held in the company.