§ MR. A. K. LOYD (Berks, Abingdon)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he will consider the hardship to farming owners or occupiers who have made no income of being compelled by distraint to pay the amount at which they are assessed for Income Tax under Schedules A and B, and of being left to recover it, if possible, and after considerable delay, on appeal; and whether any method can be devised by which such exactions can be postponed till it is ascertained whether the amount is really due?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERIt is usual to allow payment of Income Tax under Schedules A and B by owner-occupiers, and under Schedule B by occupiers, of agricultural lands to stand over, where the parties at the time of the collection are able to produce accounts showing primâ facie that a loss has been incurred. The liability to the tax cannot, of course, be discharged except by the District Commissioners after examination of the accounts. But I may add that I have recently looked into this matter with the desire to facilitate repayment as much as possible; and the surveyors are now instructed that, when the claim for remission by an owner farming his own land is confined to the tax paid under A 1070 and B on that property, he will not be required to produce any accounts except the farming accounts for the land in question.