HC Deb 07 May 1923 vol 163 cc1938-40W
Mr. BECKER

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on what basis have the new assessments on house property been made, were the houses inspected before assessments were fixed, and were the inspectors instructed to conduct the new valuations on a fixed basis regardless of the condition of the property?

Major BOYD-CARPENTER

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer read to the House on the 3rd May to a question standing in the name of the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Galbraith). I am sending the hon. Member a copy of that reply. In the great majority of cases the assessment is governed by the rent actually paid. Only in cases of special difficulty does the ascertainment of the rental value necessitate an expert valuation, and in those cases such a valuation has been placed at the disposal of the Local Commissioners by whom the assessments are made. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative, as my right hon. Friend explained in a reply to the hon. Member for Guildford (Sir H. Buckingham) on the 3rd May. I am sending the hon. Member a copy of that reply also.

Mr. A. BENNETT

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he can give the House any information as to the extent to which the new assessment of real property for Income Tax under Schedule A has been carried out throughout the country outside the Metropolitan area; whether it will be completed in two years; what is the approximate percentage increase of such assessments; and whether the whole matter, in view of the exceptional circumstances under which any increase is justified, was approved by the present Cabinet?

Major BOYD-CARPENTER

The revaluation of property for Income Tax purposes is being made in accordance with the decision reached by Parliament last year and embodied in Section 32 of the Finance Act, 1922. It is now practically complete. The information for which the hon. Member asks in the second part of his question will not be available for a considerable time, but it has been provisionally forecasted that the average increase over the amount of the existing out-of-date valuations, which were made in 1910, will not exceed 25 per cent.