§ MR. REMNANT (Finsbury, Holborn)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the officials of the Estate Duty Office have any authority to add to, alter, or expand the terms, or any statutory definition of the terms, of a taxing statute, or to construe such a statute otherwise than in strict accordance with the language used; whether he will explain why, in a recent case to which his attention has been called, these officials, for the purpose of levying additional succession duty, claimed the right to give to Section 21 (1) of 51 Vic., c. 8, a meaning of their own, by substituting for a definition in that section part of the description of a different subject-matter; and will he state why they refused to inform the taxpayer concerned what there was in the language of the section as it stood that justified their demand for this additional succession duty, or authorised such a method of interpretation; and whether he has sanctioned the action of these revenue officials.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) It is the duty of the Estate Duty Office, as of every Government Department, to administer the law as laid down in the statutes, and as interpreted by the Courts in those cases in which the language of a statute admits of doubt. In the particular case to which the hon. Member refers, I have already informed the gentleman concerned in it that I must decline to review the decision of the Department, and that I have satisfied myself that proper care and attention have been given to the case. If the gentleman is not satisfied, he should make his appeal to the Courts in the proper way. The Inland Revenue Board will be prepared to defend their action.