§ MR. WARNER (Stafford, Lichfield)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that in some districts the collectors of land tax collect something more than the quota required from the parish in order to pay themselves for the work of collecting, as the pay given by the Treasury is considered inadequate; and whether this practice has been sanctioned?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.Under section 114 of the Taxes Management Act, 1880, as amended by the Revenue Act, 1889, where the sum raised by a land tax assessment in any parish is, as must necessarily often be the case, in excess of the quota, the local commissioners may award to the assessor such part of it as they certify to be a reasonable remuneration, subject to the approval of the Board of Inland Revenue The balance, if any, is applied in redeeming the quota of the parish. The law does not allow a collector, as such, to retain any part of the surplus. In some cases—and it is possibly these which the honourable Member has in mind—one man combines the offices of collector and assessor, and, in these circumstances, he might, as assessor, be awarded a portion of the surplus.