§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, having regard to the circumstances of Ireland and the peculiar nature of the new tenure of land being created there under the Land Purchase Acts, whether it is intended that tenant purchasers shall, under the Finance Bill, as hitherto, be entitled to deduct the capital value of the annuity to which the land is subject as a head rent before assessment for Death Duty; whether he is aware that the proposed repeal of the proviso in Sub-section 5 of Section 7 of the Finance Act of 1894 would, in the absence of some 356 new provision, alter the law and practice in Ireland on this point and impose upon tenant purchasers a burden to which no other agricultural tenants in either Great Britain or Ireland are or will be subject; and whether, to illustrate the effects of the Bill as it now stands, he will state approximately the number of agricultural holdings in Ireland of 5, 10, and 20 acres worth £100, £200, and £400 respectively, the amount of Death Duty, if any, now paid by each on the death of its occupant, and the amount to be paid under the Finance Bill by a tenant subject to a rent, by a quasi-purchaser subject to interest in lieu of rent pending vesting order, and by a purchaser subject to an annuity, respectively, and the total annual increase he expects to derive from Ireland under this head by the joint effect of enactment and repeal in the Bill and the progress of land purchase in Ireland?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEIt is intended that tenant purchasers shall under the Finance Bill, as hitherto, be entitled to deduct the capital value of the annuity to which the land is subject before assessment for Death Duty; nor will the proposed repeal of the proviso to Section 7 (5) of the Finance Act, 1894, alter the law and practice in Ireland on this point. My right hon. Friend regrets that it is not possible to give the number of agricultural holdings in Ireland of 5, 10, and 20 acres, worth £100, £200, and £400 respectively, together with the amount of Death Duty now paid by each on the death of the occupant. The amount to be paid under the Finance Bill by a tenant subject to a rent, by a quasi-purchaser subject to interest in lieu of rent pending vesting order, and by a purchaser subject to an annuity, respectively, will be based in each case upon the market price of the holding and the principal value of the deceased owner's other property. About £2,500 is the total annual increase expected to be derived from Ireland:—
§ (2) On the death of a quasi-purchaser in respect of the tenant's interest in land, subject to a rent;
§ (2) On the death of a quasi-purchaser in respect of land subject to interest in lieu of rent pending vesting order; and
§ (3) On the death of a purchaser in respect of land subject to an annuity.