| Where the principal value of the estate | Estate Duty shall be payable at the rate per cent. of | |||
| £ | £ | |||
| Exceeds | 100 | and does not exceed | 500 | 1 |
| Exceeds | 500 | and does not exceed | 1,000 | 2 |
| Exceeds | 1,000 | and does not exceed | 5,000 | 3 |
| Exceeds | 5,000 | and does not exceed | 10,000 | 4 |
| Exceeds | 10,000 | and does not exceed | 20,000 | 5 |
| Exceeds | 20,000 | and does not exceed | 40,000 | 6 |
| Exceeds | 40,000 | and does not exceed | 70,000 | 7 |
| Exceeds | 70,000 | and does not exceed | 100,000 | 8 |
| Exceeds | 100,000 | and does not exceed | 150,000 | 9 |
| Exceeds | 150,000 | and does not exceed | 200,000 | 10 |
| Exceeds | 200,000 | and does not exceed | 400,000 | 11 |
| Exceeds | 400,000 | and does not exceed | 600,000 | 12 |
| Exceeds | 600,000 | and does not exceed | 800,000 | 13 |
| Exceeds | 800,000 | and does not exceed | 1,000,000 | 14 |
| Exceeds | 1,000,000 | 15 |
§ Major DUNNE moved to omit—
| Where the principal value of the estate | Estate Duty shall be payable at the rate per cent. of | |||
| £ | £ | |||
| "Exceeds | 500 | and does not exceed | 1,000 | 2 |
| Exceeds | 1,000 | and does not exceed | 5,000 | 3 |
| Exceeds | 5,000 | and does not exceed | 10,000 | 4 |
| Exceeds | 10,000 | and does not exceed | 20,000 | 5 |
| Exceeds | 20,000 | and does not exceed | 40,000 | 6 |
| Exceeds | 40,000 | and does not exceed | 70,000 | 7 |
| Exceeds | 70,000 | and does not exceed | 100,000 | 8," |
| and to insert instead thereof:— | ||||
| "Exceeds | 500 | and does not exceed | 750 | 1½ |
| Exceeds | 750 | and does not exceed | 1,000 | 2 |
| Exceeds | 1,000 | and does not exceed | 2,000 | 2¼ |
| Exceeds | 2,000 | and does not exceed | 3,000 | 2½ |
| Exceeds | 3,000 | and does not exceed | 4,000 | 2½ |
| Exceeds | 4,000 | and does not exceed | 5,000 | 3 |
| Exceeds | 5,000 | and does not exceed | 6,000 | 3¼ |
| Exceeds | 6,000 | and does not exceed | 7,000 | 3½ |
| Exceeds | 7,000 | and does not exceed | 8,500 | 3¾ |
| Exceeds | 8,500 | and does not exceed | 10,000 | 4 |
| Exceeds | 10,000 | and does not exceed | 12,500 | 4¼ |
| Exceeds | 12,500 | and does not exceed | 15,000 | 4½ |
| Exceeds | 15,000 | and does not exceed | 17,500 | 4¾ |
| Exceeds | 17,500 | and does not exceed | 20,000 | 5 |
| Exceeds | 20,000 | and does not exceed | 25,000 | 5¼ |
| Exceeds | 25,000 | and does not exceed | 30,000 | 5½ |
| Exceeds | 30,000 | and does not exceed | 35,000 | 5¾ |
| Exceeds | 35,000 | and does not exceed | 40,000 | 6 |
| Exceeds | 40,000 | and does not exceed | 47,500 | 6¼ |
| Exceeds | 47,500 | and does not exceed | 55,000 | 6½ |
| Exceeds | 55,000 | and does not exceed | 62,500 | 6¾ |
| Exceeds | 62,500 | and does not exceed | 70,000 | 7 |
| Exceeds | 70,000 | and does not exceed | 77,500 | 7¼ |
| Exceeds | 77,500 | and does not exceed | 85,000 | 7½ |
| Exceeds | 85,000 | and does not exceed | 92,500 | 7½ |
| Exceeds | 92,500 | and does not exceed | 100,000 | 8." |
§ This Amendment does not in any way alter the rate at which Death Duties are charged, but it endeavours to remove some of the anomalies which are incidental to a graduated scale. It will be seen that the Amendment graduates the scale by quarters instead of drawing the full 1 per cent., according to the estates which pass at death. To illustrate my point, I will take the case of estates between £20,000 and £40,000. Under the scale proposed by the Government, any estate not exceeding £40,000 will pay at the rate of 6 per cent. It seems a little hard that an estate of £20,100 should pay at the same rate as one proved for £40,000. By the scale I have put on the Paper, the incidence of the tax will be graduated much more in comparison with the amount that passes on death. No doubt if the Amendment were accepted the Chancellor of the Exchequer might lose a certain amount of revenue. The answer to that would be that by removing the temptations to avoid the tax, or rather, to endeavour to get the property transferred from the higher scale into the lower scale, would be largely removed by charging a graduation of one-quarter instead of the full scale of one per cent.
§ Mr. LLOYD-GEORGEMy hon. and gallant Friend has put down on the Paper a very elaborate alternative to the scheme submitted by the Government. My fatal objection to it is that it does not produce the revenue we want. After all this is a revenue Bill. We propose to raise a certain sum to meet the deficit with which I am confronted by an increase in the Death Duties. I am not sure that I should not be short by some hundred thousand pounds if I accepted my hon. Friend's proposal. I am not sure that he knows how much it involves. He naturally has not the material which the Department have at their command, and he cannot estimate or even guess the effect of his scale. They have had before them all the estates of the past few years, and it is easier for them to make the calculation. I can assure my hon. Friend that this little one quarter per cent. would make a considerable difference to the revenue. I do not think that on the whole it would be an improvement on the Government's plan, and for that reason I cannot possibly accept his alternative.
§ Major DUNNEI do not wish to put the Committee to the trouble of a division, and I, therefore, ask leave to withdraw my Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
2152§ Question put, "That this be the second Schedule to the Bill."
§ The Committee divided: Ayes, 157; Noes, 45.
2151| Division No. 782.] | AYES. | [1.15 a.m. |
| Acland, Francis Dyke | Harcourt, Robert V. (Montrose) | Paulton, James Mellor |
| Ainsworth, John Stirling | Hardie, J. Keir (Merthyr Tydvil) | Pearce, Robert (Staffs, Leek) |
| Allen, Charles P. (Stroud) | Harmsworth, Cecil B. (Worcester) | Philipps, Col. Ivor (Southampton) |
| Ashton, Thomas Gair | Harmsworth, R. L. (Caithness-shire) | Philipps, Owen C. (Pembroke) |
| Balfour, Robert (Lanark) | Hedges, A. Paget | Pointer, J. |
| Baring, Godfrey (Isle of Wight) | Helme, Norval Watson | Pollard, Dr G. H. |
| Barker, Sir John | Henderson, Arthur (Durham) | Ponsonby, Arthur A. W. H. |
| Barnard, E. B. | Henry, Charles S. | Priestley, Sir W. E. B. (Bradford, E.) |
| Barnes, G. N. | Higham, John Sharp | Rendall, Athelstan |
| Barran, Rowland Hirst | Hobart, Sir Robert | Roberts, Charles H. (Lincoln) |
| Barry, Redmond J. (Tyrone, N.) | Hobhouse, Rt. Hon. Charles E. H. | Roberts, G. H. (Norwich) |
| Beale, W. P. | Horniman, Emslie John | Robinson, S. |
| Belloc, Hilaire Joseph Peter R. | Howard, Hon. Geoffrey | Roe, Sir Thomas |
| Berridge, T. H. D. | Hyde, Clarendon G. | Rogers, F. E. Newman |
| Birrell, Rt. Hon. Augustine | Illingworth, Percy H. | Rose, Sir Charles Day |
| Bowerman, C. W. | Isaacs, Rufus Daniel | Rowlands, J. |
| Brunner, J. F. L. (Lancs., Leigh) | Jenkins, J. | Rutherford, V. H. (Brentford) |
| Burns, Rt. Hon. John | Jones, Leif (Appleby) | Samuel, Rt. Hon. H. L. (Cleveland) |
| Carr-Gomm, H. W. | Jones, William (Carnarvonshire) | Scott, A. H. (Ashton-under-Lyne) |
| Cawley, Sir Frederick | Keating, M. | Seddon, J. |
| Channing, Sir Francis Allston | King, Afred John (Knutsford) | Seely, Colonel |
| Clough, William | Laidlaw, Robert | Shackleton, David James |
| Clynes, J. R. | Lamb, Edmund G. (Leominster) | Shaw, Sir Charles E. (Stafford) |
| Collins, Stephen (Lambeth) | Lamont, Norman | Sherwell, Arthur James |
| Collins, Sir Wm. J. (St. Pancras, W.) | Layland-Barratt, Sir Francis | Silcock, Thomas Ball |
| Cooper, G. J. | Lehmann, R. C. | Simon, John Allsebrook |
| Corbett, A. Cameron (Glasgow) | Lever, A. Levy (Essex, Harwich) | Stanley, Hon. A. Lyulph (Cheshire) |
| Corbett, C. H. (Sussex, E. Grinstead) | Levy, Sir Maurice | Strachey, Sir Edward |
| Cotton, Sir H. J. S. | Lewis, John Herbert | Straus, B. S. (Mile End) |
| Cowan, W. H. | Lloyd-George, Rt. Hon. David | Summerbell, T. |
| Crossley, William J. | Lupton, Arnold | Taylor, Theodore C. (Radcliffe) |
| Davies, David (Montgomery, Co.) | Macdonald, J. M. (Falkirk Burghs) | Tennant, Sir Edward (Salisbury) |
| Davies, Sir W. Howell (Bristol, S.) | M'Laren, Sir C. B. (Leicester) | Tennant, H. J. (Berwickshire) |
| Devlin, Joseph | M'Laren, H. D. (Stafford, W.) | Thomas, Abel (Carmarthen, E.) |
| Dickinson, W. H. (St. Pancras, N.) | Manfield, Harry (Northants) | Thomasson, Franklin |
| Dillon, John | Markham, Arthur Basil | Toulmin, George |
| Duckworth, Sir James | Marnham, F. J. | Ure, Rt. Hon. Alexander |
| Duncan, J. Hastings (York, Otley) | Mason, A. E. W. (Coventry) | Ward, W. Dudley (Southampton) |
| Dunn, A. Edward (Camborne) | Massie, J. | Wason, Rt. Hon. E. (Clackmannan) |
| Dunne, Major E. Martin (Walsall) | Masterman, C. F. G. | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney) |
| Elibank, Master of | Middlebrook, William | Watt, Henry A. |
| Erskine, David C. | Mond, A. | White, J. Dundas (Dumbartonshire) |
| Essex, R. W. | Montgomery, H. G. | Wiles, Thomas |
| Evans, Sir S. T. | Morgan, G. Hay (Cornwall) | Wilkie, Alexander |
| Everett, R. Lacey | Worrell, Philip | Williamson, Sir A. |
| Fiennes, Hon. Eustace | Morse, L. L. | Wills, Arthur Waiters |
| Flavin, Michael Joseph | Muldoon, John | Wilson, Henry J. (York, W. R.) |
| Fullerton, Hugh | Murray, Capt. Hon. A. C. (Kincard.) | Wilson, P. W. (St. Pancras, S.) |
| Gladstone, Rt. Hon. Herbert John | Newnes, F. (Notts, Bassetlaw) | Wilson, W. T. (Westhoughton) |
| Goddard, Sir Daniel Ford | Nicholls, George | |
| Gooch, George Peabody (Bath) | Nicholson, Charles N. (Doncaster) | |
| Greenwood, G. (Peterborough) | Norman, Sir Henry | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.—Captain |
| Gulland, John W. | Parker, James (Halifax) | Norton and Mr. Whitley. |
| Harcourt, Rt. Hon. L. (Rosendale) | Partington, Oswald |
| NOES. | ||
| Arkwright, John Stanhope | Douglas, Rt. Hon. A. Akers- | Randles, Sir John Scurrah |
| Ashley, W. W. | Faber, George Denison (York) | Ratcliff, Major R. F. |
| Balcarres, Lord | Fell, Arthur | Renton, Leslie |
| Baldwin, Stanley | Fetherstonhaugh, Godfrey | Renwick, George |
| Banbury, Sir Frederick George | Gooch, Henry Cubitt (Peckham) | Rutherford, Watson (Liverpool) |
| Banner, John S. Harmood- | Gretton, John | Salter, Arthur Clavell |
| Bridgeman, W. Clive | Haddock, George B. | Stanier, Beville |
| Brotherton, Edward Allen | Harris, Frederick Leverton | Stanley, Hon. Arthur (Ormskirk)' |
| Bull, Sir William James | Harrison-Broadley, H. B. | Starkey, John R. |
| Campbell, Rt. Hon. J. H. M. | Hay, Hon. Claude George | Talbot, Lord E. (Chichester) |
| Carlile, E. Hildred | Hill, Sir Clement | Walker, Col. W. H. (Lancashire) |
| Castlereagh, Viscount | Hills, J. W. | Warde, Col. C. E. (Kent, Mid) |
| Clyde, J. Avon | Kerry, Earl of | Winterton, Earl |
| Coates, Major E. F. (Lewisham) | King, Sir Henry Seymour (Hull) | |
| Courthope, G. Loyd | Nicholson, Wm. G. (Petersfield) | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.—Viscount |
| Dickson, Rt. Hon. C. Scott | Pease, Herbert Pike (Darlington) | Valentia and Mr. H. W. Forster. |
§ Question, "That the Schedule be the third Schedule of the Bill," put, and agreed to.