§ Sir Hyde Parker presented a Petition from the inhabitants of the hundred of Berbergh, Suffolk, complaining of having, in consequence of the last Act on the subject, which professed to be a mitigation of the tax on taxed carts, been taxed for the first time, and praying for a repeal of the tax altogether.
§ Mr. Humeobserved, that when the Bill of last Session was in progress in the House, he had expressed his opinion that some such consequence would result from it. A number of surcharges had been made, and numerous complaints had been communicated to him, of which he had given information to the Treasury. The effect of the Bill was to tax many individuals who had not been taxed before. They were, in most instances, persons eminently entitled to relief; but it was impossible to relieve them as the Act stood.
§ Lord Althorpsaid, the case was this. The Bill of last Session took the half of the old tax off from carts which were used by their owners, for the mixed purpose of the conveyance of themselves and their families, and the conveyance of goods to and from market. Formerly, if a cart 854 were employed for anything but the carrying of goods to and from market, the owner was liable to a heavy tax; but there were several parts of England where the tax had been customarily evaded. In those places, the Act of last Session, instead of operating as a relief, had a directly contrary effect; for the officers of the revenue had, upon its passing, immediately called upon the parties for the half-duty, which they certainly felt to be a hardship. In other parts of the country where the old law had been strictly obeyed, the new measure operated as a relief.
Mr. Baringsaid, that although the measure of last Session had been intended as an act of grace, in practice it had in various cases operated injuriously. He hoped the petitioners would have some relief.
§ Mr. Spring Riceobserved, that the Act of last Session had operated as a greater relief than had been stated; for the employment of the cart under the old law for anything but the conveyance of goods had sometimes occasioned the Horse Duty to be levied on the horse, and the Manservant Duty on the driver, making a charge of 11l. instead of 1l. 10s. The Bill of last Session had but two clauses—the one reducing the tax on carts used for the double purpose of market and family conveyance, from '3l. 5s. to 11. 12s. 6d.; the other containing all the previous exemptions.
Petition to lie on the Table.