§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of their decision to grant exemption from liability to betterment levy on small transactions, they will permit the Land Commission to back-date the granting of this relief to the date of the introduction of the levy.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD KENNET)My Lords, I would refer the noble Lord to the terms of the White Paper published on Budget Day.
§ LORD WADEMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that Answer, so far as it goes. Does he agree that the introduction of the levy has created a number of anomalies and cases of hardship? If Her Majesty's Government are satisfied that relief should be granted in certain cases, surely the considerations which led to that decision should apply equally as strongly to transactions prior to April 5 as to transactions subsequent to that date. Secondly, may I ask whether the noble Lord is aware that the Chairman of the Land Commission has indicated that there would be no insuperable administrative difficulties in back-dating this relief? If I may say so, the case seems almost unanswerable.
§ A NOBLE LORD: Then do not ask it!
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, the considerations put by the noble Lord have, of course, been very much in the Government's mind. This is an issue of taxation policy which it is appropriate should be 640 discussed in the context of the Finance Bill in another place. It is true that the Chairman of the Land Commission has advised the Government on the practicability of retrospection, but I can inform the House it is not true that, as has been reported in the Press in some places, he has advised the Government that it ought to be done. He recognises that this is a question for Her Majesty's Government alone.
§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, the noble Lord said that this was a matter of taxation policy. But does he recollect that repeatedly during the passage of the Bill Ministers assured the House that the betterment levy was not a tax but a levy? It was on that ground that they justified imposing it on the investment property of charities.
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, I am prepared to accept that and to amend what I said. It is a matter of levy policy or charge policy. It is a charge upon the people, and as such is best discussed in the context in which it will be discussed in the House of Commons.
§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, if it is not a tax why is it to be discussed in terms of the Finance Bill?
§ LORD TREFGARNEMy Lords, can the noble Lord say what are the arguments against refunding the levy in cases in which it has been taken hitherto?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, perhaps I may answer two questions at once. I think that a Finance Bill may be concerned with levies as much as with taxes—as is the one before the House of Commons. Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, will put down a Question on the wider point that he raised.
§ THE EARL OF KINNOULLMy Lords, can the noble Lord say how many cases would be affected if exemption were back-dated? Secondly, can he confirm whether the existing 10 per cent. exemption under the Act will still operate with the new exemption figure?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords: I am not sure that I understood the second part of the noble Lord's question. The exemption which takes effect from April 5 this year in respect of sums of up to £1,500 641 will affect 10 per cent. of the cases. I think that ought to answer the first part of the noble Lord's question also.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, is not retrospection, on the whole, a bad thing, whatever the matter?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, that consideration is an obvious one; and one which is as much in the Government's mind as the arguments on the other side which have been presented by the noble Lord, Lord Wade, in his Question. I thank the noble Lord for his intervention.
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMy Lords, may we take it from the several replies of the Minister that the question will be an open one later on, when the Finance Bill is discussed, and that the matter is not by any means closed?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, the Government will be proposing a solution to this matter, one way or the other, in this context. Indeed there may be an opportunity this afternoon in the House of Commons for the matter to be raised.