§ THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTHMy Lords, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government if they are now in a position to inform the House what the approximate yield will be for the current year of the proposed Increment and Undeveloped Land Taxes, and what the estimated cost for the current year will be of the surveyors and staff employed in making the necessary valuations.
LORD DENMANMy Lords, in answer to the noble Earl's Question, I may say that a Paper has recently been circulated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer containing a revised estimate of the yield of the taxation imposed by the Finance Bill after allowance has been made for the effect of the alterations in the Bill and the loss due to delay. The noble Earl will find from this Paper that it is estimated that the yield will be for 1909–10—Increment Value Duty, £20,000; Undeveloped Land Duty, £140,000; and Mineral Rights Duty, £350,000. This estimate, I would remind the noble Earl, was based on the assumption that the Finance Bill would receive the Royal Assent somewhere about the end of this month. On the same assumption the increased cost of the valuation for the current year, over and above the £50,000 originally provided for in the Budget, is estimated at £200,000.