§ MR. CHANNINGI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in the case of prospective building land, the present annual value of which does not exceed £5, but which will be raised above the £5 if buildings are placed upon it, 348 and thus become again liable to land tax, he will introduce provisions into the Finance Bill to enable the owner to redeem the land from land tax upon the basis of what the land tax would be on the same land supposing the present exemption under £5 were not given under the Bill?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERWhere land to which the exemption will apply has been brought into assessment since 1896 it will be kept in assessment every year, and the amount of the tax assessed upon it will be written off from the quota. No special provision, therefore, will be necessary to enable the owner at any time to redeem. Where the land has never been assessed it is the intention of the clause to provide that it shall not come into assessment at all, so long as the conditions of exemption continue to apply; and no redemption can, therefore, be effected until it has been actually brought into assessment.