LAND VALUES, RATING. (Hansard, 5 May 1920)

§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
I beg to move: That, in the opinion of this House, local rates should be levied upon the unimproved 2199 value of land and buildings, and improvements should be exempted from assessment. The resolution which I have the honour to move might be described in olden times as a hardy annual. From 1900 up to the time of the War it was introduced year after year, and it had behind it backers of some importance. It is true that most of them are gone. Sir Alfred Bilson, who used always to introduce this Resolution, is unfortunately dead, and Sir Charles Trevelyan is no longer with us. The Bills dealing with this question introduced in the 1900 and 1906 Parliaments were not only backed by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Camberwell (Dr. Macnamara), who himself introduced one of the Bills, but also by the present Prime Minister. We have practically every Liberal statesman of the past pledged to the reform advocated in the Resolution. It has not been introduced since the War, and consequently it has become so strange to modern politicians that they put the comma in the wrong place. The Resolution should read as follows: That, in the opinion of this House, local rates should be levied upon the unimproved value of land, and buildings and improvements should be exempted from assessment. That is the Resolution which has the support of over 50 town and urban district councils. It has been passed even by the conservative municipality of Manchester, and many other great cities have taken upon themselves to urge upon the Government the initiation of this essential reform. We may say that it is one of the few reforms that have been asked for by municipalities who very rarely go out of their way to urge upon the Government special Resolutions. They ask for the right to impose upon land value some of those rates which at present fall upon land and buildings together.

Mr. DOYLE
I beg to call attention to the fact that 40 members are not present.

§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Sir E. Cornwall)
Colonel Wedgwood.

§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
Being an old Member of the House, I know that we cannot move a count before a quarter 2200 past nine. This question is of enormous importance to the whole of the community. Rates are levied upon the annual value of every hereditament in their present condition, let as they are and for the purpose for which they are suited at the present time; in the words of the Statute, Rebus sic stantibus. Ordinarily, the property is rated at the sum for which it will let. If it be occupied by the owner himself, they estimate the sum for which it would let. That is the basis of the assessment in every case. The Assessment Committee have to consider the use to which the property is put or could be put in its present condition. That has the grave disadvantage of penalising any property owner who improves his property. The more he improves his property the more rates he has to pay. If an owner of a house who employs labour puts in a bay window and improves the condition and appearance of the street thinks he is going to get any benefit, he is greatly mistaken. He will not receive visits from his neighbours congratulating him upon his improvement. The only person who will visit him will be the rate collector, demanding an increased subsidy for the town. That directly discourages the good property owner. You have two owners of property on two different sides of the road. One man employs labour in putting up private houses and his rates are increased immediately, not merely ten-fold, but 20 and even 30fold. On the other side of the road is a landlord who does not improve his property. He leaves it the receptacle of dead cats and empty tins, and as a result his property is only let and rated at £2, of which half is remitted under the Agricultural Rates Act. The good landlord who creates houses and employs labour is penalised, and the bad landlord who starves his property of labour and capital and keeps the land idle receives a bonus from the State. Everybody who thinks this matter of rating out must realise that the present system is bad.