HC Deb 22 May 1883 vol 279 cc698-9
MR. JUSTIN M'CARTHY (for Mr. SEXTON)

asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is true that nine tenant farmers in the townland of Drum-duff, barony of Dromalsuir, county Lei-trim, have been proceeded against for Income Tax (for the first time this year) by a bailiff; whether, in the case of one of the tenants, who, acting on legal advice, refused to pay the tax, the bailiff seized a beast belonging to the tenant, the tenant resisted the seizure of his property, and has now been summoned for resisting the execution of a warrant; and, whether those proceedings in respect of this Income Tax are lawful?

MR. COURTNEY

The facts stated are substantially correct. The resistance to payment seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding, the tax having previously been collected under a special arrangement. Eight of the nine men concerned paid at once; the other, who had to be summoned, paid the tax and costs, and the summons has been withdrawn. The amount of the tax in these cases can be deducted, in the usual manner, from the next payment of rent. The collector appears to have acted strictly within his right.