§ SIR B. HALLwished to put a question to the noble Lord at the head of the Go- 875 vernment, in reference to the house tax which had been proposed by the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The noble Lord was aware that by the ratepaying clauses of the Reform Act it was necessary that the assessed taxes and poor-rates should be paid by a 10l. householder previous to being put on the registry. The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to abolish entirely the window duties and to impose a house tax, and he (Sir B. Hall) wished to ask the Government whether it was their intention, in case the House should agree to the imposition of that tax, that the payment of that tax should be necessary as a qualification for voting?
§ LORD J. RUSSELLhad only to say, in answer to the question of the hon. Baronet, that there was no intention to propose any new qualification by the new tax on houses. He presumed the application of the law would be the same as with respect to the assessed taxes.
§ SIR B. HALLwould now beg to ask another question of the noble Lord. When the right hon. Baronet the late Sir Robert Peel imposed the income tax, he said he would not make the payment of that tax a necessary qualification for voting; and was he (Sir B. Hall) to understand that, if the house tax was to be imposed, it was to be one of those assessed taxes, the payment of which was necessary to entitle the voters in boroughs to be placed on the registry?
§ LORD J. RUSSELLThat question I cannot precisely answer. It must be left to the lawyers to determine whether or not it forms part of those assessed taxes.
§ Subject dropped.