Development Land Tax (Hansard, 21 June 1979)

§ 11. Mr. Latham
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on his proposals for development land tax.

§ Mr. Lawson
As I am sure my hon. Friend was glad to see, my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer did so in his Budget Statement.

§ Mr. Latham
Now that many small transactions will be exempt from this tax, will my hon. Friend turn his attention to the gross overstaffing of the development land tax office, on which there was a critical Inland Revenue report to the Labour Government but on which no action has been taken?

§ Mr. Lawson
I am well aware of the close interest my hon. Friend has been taking over a long period in the development land tax office. It is too soon to settle the future staffing needs of that office. For one thing, as a result of the removal, by the measures introduced in the Budget, of the major uncertainties that have been hanging over the development land market, I expect that there will be an increase in the number of disposals. We have this matter closely under review.

§ Mr. Denzil Davies
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that any benefit—and the Opposition dispute that there will be any—which might come to the building industry as a result of cuts in development land tax will be far outweighed by the damage caused by the Budget, especially the public expenditure cuts and the punitive rates of interest?

§ Mr. Lawson
The right hon. Gentleman characteristically seems to assume that the building and construction industry is concerned solely with the public sector. What he fails to appreciate is that, as a result of the Budget measures and the long-term strategy of the Government, we expect over the coming years a revival in the private sector, which will give a lot of business to builders and to the construction industry generally.