STILL ON LAND DUTIES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 562, 17 July 1909, Page 5

STILL ON LAND DUTIES.

commons: committee. !By Telegraph-Press Associatlon.-OoeyrlutaO London, July 15. The Honso of Commons sat for eighteen and a half hours discussing the Governnwnt'e Finance Bill in committee. Ministers and members were frequently asleep. A small boy of Unionists continued a relentless oriticism of the Chancellor's financial proposals. Mr. Lloyd-George proposed that the clo. sure should be applied to thirty-two lines of the Bill, but Mr. Emmott, Chairman of the Committee, refused to accept the motion. / Finally the committee got down to the end of Clause 5. ' ' [The Bill has 7* clauses. Judging by the above cablegram, the first five clauses have Sassed the committee. These five and the sixth eal with tho proposed duty of 20 per cent, on the incremont valno of land. Clauses 7 to 9 inclusive deal with the reversion duty on leaseholds, and clausqs 10 to 13 inclusive deal with the duty on undeveloped land and minerals.] DETAILS OF NEW IMPOSTS. Tho Finance Bill—an outline of which has come to hand by mail—gives fuller details of tho new land taxes than were to be found in the Budget. These taxes arc;— Unearned increment, 20 per, cont. Reversion duty, 10 per cent. ■ i , Undeveloped ,land and ungoften minerals i duty, Jd.'per.'lb. on capital value, i Increment Duty. .'■■'•■. i The increment duty has to bo paid on tho sale of the land, grant of a lease for not less than seven years, death of tho owner; or, when the land is owned by corporate or un-incor-porate. bodies (which do not die), 1 at periods of fifteen years, tho first of which h> 1011. When tho owner proves that within twenty years he pnrobasrcd the land for lnoro than the present sito value, tho commissioners,,are to make an allowance for that depreciation, The valuation is subject to deductions to* buildings on the land, and goodwill, "or any other matter,which la personal to tho occupier or other person interested for the time being in tho land," and in the case of agrioul-' tural land tho value of improvements. Bodies corporate may spread tho incremont duty over fifteen yearly instalments. Reversion : Duty. The , value of the benefit accruing to the lessor shall be the amount by which the total value of the land at tho time the lease determines exceeds the capital value of the consideration for; the, original grant of the lease. No reversion duty shall be charged on determination of any leaso originally of a shorter period than.Uenty-ono years, or on any existing lease of a shorter period than thirty years. When a lease is broken before expiry, and renewed to tho same person or his successor for more than twenty-one years after the expiry of the original lease, 2J per cent, of the'reversion duty, will bo abated Jor every unexpircd year of the first lease. When increment and reversion, duty fall together tho former includes the latter. . Undeveloped ;Land. Land is deemed to be undeveloped if it is not built upon or used for any business, trade, or industry, other than agriculture (which includes market gardens, nurseries, and allotments); but the duty shall not be charged when tho site value does not exceed .CSO an acre. Even when agricultural land exceeds .£SO an acre in value the duty is not charged if its site valuo h entirely due to its agricultural value. The duty shall not be charged on parks,,eardons, or open spaces, which are open to the public as of right, or to which reasonable accMS, contributing to the amenity of the locality, is granted to the publici "or on land used for the purposes of games or other recreation where the commissioners are satisfied that tho use of tho land is given for the , benefit of tho public or of the inhabitants of the locality" on a leaM of not less than fho years. I Domestic gardens, not exceeding an acre in .extent, are exempted; and, when not exceeding two acres, get a proportional abatement. Tho site value of the land meana the value of the feo simple, if sold in the open market by a willing seller, after being divosted of buildings, growing timber, and fruit troee. Deductions will be allowed for value directly attributable to permanent works executed by the owner, other than those for agriculture. . Returns from Landowners. The commissioners shall, nj toon as may be after the passing of the Act, reqniro returns from all owners of land, declaring, as on April 30, 1909, tho total value and the site value of their, laud. Owners of undeveloped land and minerals must cue returns in 19U, and every fifth year afterwards. If tlio owner melcos no return, tho commis fcioners w ill value the land, and in that case he has no right of appeal against their d«civion. (Kecent cablegrams havo stated that tho Chancellor of tho Exchequer has given May on this point, and haa conceded a right of ap. peal.)

No duty is to bo charged on land -held by rating authorities (eg., municipalities) or on land held for publio or charitable purposes («.gi.<. schools and hospitals), without any view to the payment of dividend out of the profit or revenue thereof, so long as the land.is actually ueed for those purposes, • ■■<■..•■-■■