§ 58. Major HUNTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider the desirability of inserting in the present Finance Bill some clauses to restore to tithe payers the benefits promised and presumably provided for in the Tithe Act of 1891, Section 1, which appears to guarantee that the amount of the tithe should never exceed two-thirds of the then assessment under Schedule B; and whether he will provide in the Finance Bill that the tithe-rent shall not, during the War, exceed two-thirds of the pre-war assessment under Schedule B?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWMy hon. and gallant Friend apparently refers to Subsection (1) of Section 8 of the Tithe Act, 1891. In that Sub-Section there is no question of the amount of the Income Tax assessment under Schedule B. The criterion is the annual value of the lands as ascertained for the purpose of Schedule B, and this annual value is, of course, not affected by the amount of the actual assessment under Schedule B, for which it merely serves as a basis of computation.
§ 59. Major HUNTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the General Commissioners of Income Tax are, under the Tithe Act of 1891, Sections 4 and 5, compelled to give to the owners or occupiers of land subject to the tithe-rent charge, upon payment of Is. per certificate, certificates as to the assessment of such lands under Schedule B; and whether the Government will cause the General Commissioners of Income Tax to give such certificates forthwith and not withhold them, as they are at present doing, in clear disobedience to the. plain intentions of the Tithe Act of 1891.
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI am not aware of any case of refusal to furnish a certificate upon application in the circumstances for which the Act provides, but if my hon. and gallant Friend will furnish me with particulars I will have the matter investigated.