TAXING THE LAND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 566, 22 July 1909, Page 5

TAXING THE LAND.

' FINANCE BILL ' INCREMENT AND REVERSION DUTIES. BOTH CARRIED. (By Tolcgrnph.-Preaa Aeioclallon.-CoDyrlrtaU ' London, July 20. In committee on the Finaneo Bill tho House of iCommone considered Clause 6, tho last of tbo six ohiUEOS dealing with tho duty of one-fifth on the unearned increment of land. Clause- 6 provides that in tho case of land held by corporations or public bodie* tho dutyof one-fifth shall bo levied in 1914 and in every subsequent fifteenth jear.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Lloyd-George) promised tiiat a very considerable number of charitable institutione and public organisations would be safeguarded against the increment duty. Clause 6 was carried. , Clause 7 (reversion duty of one-tenth on leaseholds) provides that on tlio determination of any leas© of land a reversion duty of one-tenth shall bo levied on tho benefit accruing to tho lessor. The benefit is the excess of the total value of the land over the capital value of tho consideration for the original grant of the lease. Where the lessor is not'the freeholder ,< the benefit is to be'reduced to tho value of his interest. Subclauso 2 of Clause 7 reads: For tho purposes of this section tho value of tho benefit accruing to the le&sor shall bo deemed to be the amount {if any) by which the total |Falue of the land at. the time the lease determines oxceeds the capital valuo of tho consideration for the original grant of tho lease, but where tho lessor is notr tho freeholder tho value of tbo benefit as bo ascertained shall bo reduced is proportion to the amount by which the valuo of his interest is less than the,valuo of tho freehold. - .. - Tho Chancellor announced- that agricultural land would be exempted from the reversion tax. Clause 7 was not passed' until tho'House had sat till 6 a.m'. , The Government trill allow a reduction in respect of work -of a permanent character executed by tho lessor. <

LORDS AND COMMONS. WAS MR. CHURCHILL THE MINISTRY'S SPOKESMAN? ~ ' ' Loridoh, 'July 20. In tho Parliamentary lobbies doubt is expressed whether the President of tho Board of Trade (Mr. Churchill), in his statement at Edinburgh that "when tho Finance Bill leaves tho Commons, it ought to leave in its final form, and no amendment, excision, nlodifying, or mutilating will'-bo agreed , to by us," was acting as the spokesman of tho Cabinet.j ' The general belief is that bo was merely indicating his individual wishes. MIS-REPORTED. London, July. 20; In hie speech before tWConservative .Associationl last Friday, the Marquis of Lansdowne (Unionist Leader m the House of Lords) was reported as saying that "members of the House of Lords were unlikely to proclaim that they had no responsibility regarding tho Finance Bill, that they were- obliged to svCallofr 'i£ wliolo without mincing." Lord Lansdowne Dow explains that he •said "wincing," not Vmmcing." ! [When the original cablegram came on Sunday evonmjj, it was assumed in this offico that "mincing" was a transmission error, and "wincing" was substituted The subsequently cabled speech of Mr Churchill, in which ho quoted Lord Lansdowne as sayirtj "inincihg," seemed to scttlo definitely that that word was used To-day's message, however, supplies tho explanation—viz, that the orror was ono of reporting at Home.]