§ Mr. T. M. HEALYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that in Dublin the liability of owners of house property to pay 5s. Income Tax in the £ on the valuation of their property on the 1st of January in each year, or in default to suffer immediate distress, constitutes a hardship in view of the fact that they are liable to pay their second moiety of taxes to the Dublin Corporation or the townships before the 1st of March and their head rents before Lady Day, whereas they rarely receive any rents from their own tenants between the end of October and the end of April; whether he will consider the propriety of allowing owners to pay this Income Tax in two instalments, as in the case of the tax on earned incomes; and whether he will give directions that in future the provision whereby house owners whose total incomes are under £500 or £l,000 are only liable to pay 3s. or 3s. 6d., respectively, in the £ on the valuation shall appear printed conspicuously on the demand note served on the 1st January?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWThe law governing the payment of Income Tax (Schedule A) 771W in one instalment is of general application, and I do not see my way at present to alter it. The difficulties which in 1915 rendered it impracticable to apply to Schedule A the provisions for the collection of* Income Tax by two instalments are even more serious under present day conditions. The demand note already provides specially for the deduction from the Schedule A charge of the relief to the owner under Section 26 of the Finance Act, 1916 (where due and not otherwise allowed). Claims for the allowance of this relief by deduction as an alternative to repayment are, of course, lodged before 1st January, when payment of the tax is due.