HC Deb 08 August 1911 vol 29 cc949-50
Mr. RAFFAN

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been directed to the proceedings at the last meeting of the Chelmsford Town Council, from which it appears that there is a house famine in the town, many tenants having received ejectment notices and being unable to secure other accommodation, while the town council are called upon to pay at the rate of £5.000 per acre for land required for public improvements; and whether, in view of the apparent inadequacy of the Budget taxes to check landlord monopoly in Chelmsford, he will consider the advisability of imposing a direct Budget tax of 1d. in the £ on the capital value of all land values, and will promote legislation authorising local authorities to make land values the basis of local rating, thus relieving buildings and improvements and encouraging the erection of houses for the accommodation of those who are being dispossessed by their present landlords?

Mr. LLOYD GEORGE

I think it is premature to pass judgment on the economic effects of a system of taxation which has been in force little more than a year, and in respect of which the preliminary valuation is not even yet complete. With regard to local taxation, it would not be desirable for the Government to enter upon the consideration of so sweeping a change as that indicated by my hon. Friend in anticipation of the recommendations of the Committee now inquiring into the relations of local and Imperial finance.

Mr. RAFFAN

Has the attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer been drawn, to the special circumstances at Chelmsford, referred to in the first part of the question?

Mr. LLOYD GEORGE

I am afraid they are not unique.