MR. NEVILLE-GRENVILLEsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Out of what rent will a tenant paying his landlord's Income Tax under Schedule (A), in January 1870, be entitled to deduct the amount?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, in reply, that the answer to this Question was contained in the words of the Act of Parliament imposing the income tax, which authorized the deduction to be made "out of the first payment thereafter made on account of the rent;" that was, the tenant was au- 844 thorized to deduct it out of the rent then coming due whenever it was paid. He might point out that under the present arrangement tenants who paid their rent half-yearly were called upon in April to advance this payment on behalf of their landlord, which they did not recover till Michaelmas, and again in October, which they did not recover till March; whereas by his proposal the tax would be collected in January or February, and the tenant would recover it out of the rent he paid in March. After all, the sum involved was very trifling; taking the income tax at 4d., the amount on £100 would be £1 13s. 4d., and the interest on that, at 5 per cent, in three months was only five pence.