§ Mr. PERKINSasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is now the practice of the Inland Revenue Department to assess for Income Tax, Schedule B, all land except the first acre, occupied with a dwelling house; whether a private carriage drive, an ornamental shrubbery, a garden path, a tennis lawn, and the site of out-buildings, all occupied with a dwelling house, are regarded by the department as productive of a profit, although such House would not in practice be occupied without them; whether land used in common by a group of householders for recreation, as in 61W the case of a garden city, is liable to assessment; and what is the authority, if any, for the exemption of the first acre of such land?
Mr. McKINNON WOODUnder statutory provisions which have been in force since 1842, Income Tax, Schedule B, is charged in respect of the occupation of lands and tenements, except dwelling-houses and the domestic offices thereunto belonging, which are not occupied with a farm of lands for the purpose of farming such lands, and except warehouses or other buildings occupied for the purpose of carrying on a trade or profession. The charges under Schedule B is imposed in respect of the occupation, and under the Acts no regard is had to the question of profits except in the case of nurseries and market gardens and lands occupied for the purposes of husbandry. Under the rules of the House Tax Acts the charge to Inhabited House Duty includes the annual value of the domestic offices, together with gardens, pleasure grounds, etc., to the extent of not more than one acre. The annual value of this acre of gardens, etc., is excluded from the Income Tax, Schedule B, charge. Recreation land (such as tennis courts, bowling greens, etc.), would not be charged to Income Tax (Schedule B), where it is reserved for the sole use of a group of householders, whose payments of rent for the houses which they occupy entitle them to the use of the land without further payment therefor.