§ Mr. MOUNTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will explain why 495W Income Tax under Schedule A and Inhabited House Duty have been collected upon a furnished house, though such house was not occupied and though the owner was unable to let it?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEIncome Tax (Schedule A) is a charge upon all lands, tenements, etc., capable of occupation, in respect of the property therein, and falls to be assessed upon all such lands, etc., whether occupied or not at the time the assessments are made. Provision is made by Section 70 of the Act, 5 and 6 Vic, cap. 35, enabling the District Commissioners to discharge the assessment upon a house for such portion of the year as it-may be proved to them on appeal to have been unoccupied, but a house which is kept furnished for habitation is not regarded as an unoccupied house within the meaning of this Section. As regards Inhabited House Duty, it was decided in the case of Smithv. Dauney (20 T.L.R. 444) that a house from which the owner and occupier has removed is only to be deemed unoccupied when it is wholly unfurnished.