HC Deb 10 March 1932 vol 262 cc1979-80
66. Sir BASIL PETO

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the fact that in Barnstaple the assessment for Income Tax purposes follows the revised assessment for rating purposes, which, on business premises generally, was increased in the assessment made two years ago to three times the previous valuation; and whether, in view of the different principles which govern assessment for rating and Income Tax, respectively, he will cause a new assessment for Income Tax to be made?

Sir V. WARRENDER

The annual values of properties for the purposes of assessment to Income Tax have, in Barnstaple as elsewhere in the country, been determined under the rules of the Income Tax Acts applicable to Schedule A. Those values are distinct from the values for rating purposes which are determined by a separate authority. The latter are naturally taken into consideration as one of the factors in arriving at the former and it may well be that in. some areas there is a similarity between the two. In any event, however, there was, in connection with the recent general re-valuation for Schedule A, a statutory right of appeal open to any taxpayer who was dissatisfied with the annual value placed upon his property. In the case of business premises owned by the trader, as my hon. Friend knows, the amount of the assessment for Schedule A is a deduction for the purposes of Schedule D.

Sir B. PETO

Arising out of the earlier part of the reply, can the hon. Gentleman say how it is that, if there is only a general similarity between the assessments for these two purposes, the assessments are the same in every case?