§ Mr. LOUGHERasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give instructions to assessors of Income Tax, Schedule A, in cases where property is bona fide let under a lease for a short term of years, not to assess such property in excess of the rent actually received, notwithstanding that if the owner was free to rent the property by the year a higher rent could be obtained than that received during the currency of the lease?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSThe reassessment for Income Tax purposes is being made in accordance with law under which the annual value of property is the rack-rent at which it is let, or is worth to be let, by the year. In cases where property is let at a rack-rent fixed by agreement within the preceding seven years, the annual value is by law fixed at the amount of the yearly rent. If, however, the rent paid by a tenant is not a rack-rent, for example, when the tenant undertakes also to hear the cost of repairs, or pays a substantial premium on the grant of the lease, the rack-rental value of the property would often be in excess of the actual rent, and often has so been in the past.