§ Sir JOHN LONSDALEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the relief provided by Sub-section (7) (b) of Section 19 of The Finance Act, 1907, is inoperative in cases where a clergyman has not the right of sub-letting his residence, owing to the rule of the Inland Revenue Commissioners that these cases are still governed by the decision of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland in the case of MacDougall v. Sutherland (1894); and if he will introduce a provision in the Finance Bill to redress the anomaly of compelling clergymen to pay Income Tax at the unearned rate upon part of their earned incomes?
Mr. McKINNON WOODIt has been judicially decided that the annual value of a house in which a clergyman or other person is allowed to live rent free without the power of letting does not form part of that person's income for Income Tax purposes. It cannot therefore be regarded as part of his earned income. I am not prepared to propose any alteration of the law in this respect.