§ 55. Mr. Crowderasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether instructions have been given to Inland Revenue authorities not to assess properties under Schedule A below the rating assessment; and, if this is so, will he issue further instructions that they are not to assess properties above the rating valuation unless exceptional circumstances exist?
§ Mr. ChamberlainNo such instructions have been issued. The annual values of properties for the purposes of assessment to Income Tax (Schedule A) are determined by the General Commissioners of Income Tax, and, as my hon. Friend is aware, the value for rating purposes is 967 only one of the factors which are taken into consideration in determining those assessments.
§ Mr. CrowderIs my right hon. Friend aware that the public are becoming puzzled and annoyed at receiving two different assessments for the same property; and could he see his way to give instructions that there should be some uniformity in this respect, as both the rating authority and the revenue authority have to ascertain at what price the property could be let year by year.
§ Mr. ChamberlainIt would take too long to discuss here the difference between assessments for Schedule A and assessments for rating purposes, but my hon. Friend is aware that different considerations arise in the two cases.
§ 56. Mr. Crowderasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Inland Revenue authorities are continuing to, maintain that in many cases the local rating valuation of properties is below the full letting value; and what sources of information are available to these authorities that are not available to the rating committees, composed for the most part of business men with long experience of local conditions, and which enable the former to estimate differently the value which a tenant may reasonably be expected to pay for any property?
§ Mr. ChamberlainThe annual values of properties for the purposes of assessment to Income Tax under Schedule A are determined by the General Commissioners of Income Tax under the rules of the Income Tax Acts applicable to Schedule A. The values for rating purposes are determined by numerous separate and independent authorities, and are only one of the factors to be taken into account in determining the values for Income Tax purposes. In this connection I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave him on 9th July last and the reply which was given to the hon. and gallant Member for Carlisle (Brigadier-General Spears) on 6th July last. I am sending him copies of those replies.
§ Mr. ThorneIf one fills in an Income Tax form and puts in the assessment of the house according to the rateable valuation of the local authority, are the Inland Revenue Commissioners entitled to alter it?