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introduced by Sir R. N. Fowler, Member of Parliament for
the City of London. Several speakers having addressed the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Groschen stated that the
attempt to redress one grievance would infallibly create other
anomalies, and he would therefore rather defer dealing with
the subject until he was able to do so in a comprehensive
manner.
Without entering fully into details, it may be stated
broadly that the two leading exemptions from Inhabited
House Duty, one total and one partial, appear to be based
on faulty principles. The first of these exemptions applies
to dwelling houses of less value than £20 per annum, which
are wholly free from the duty without any regard to their
location. Now, a house worth £20 a year is of a very
different character according to the locality in Which it
happens to be situated. For instance, a house which might
fetch £20 in the heart of the Metropolis would be worth less
in the suburbs, or in a provincial town, and comparatively
valueless in a remote country district. Taxation should affect
all classes equally, but it is difficult to see how the rural
occupier of a house and garden at (say) £18 a year—and
many persons in comfortable circumstances stand at even
less rent in some localities—bears his share equally with the
poorer occupier of a small London house when the latter is
assessed at a duty of 9d. in the pound on his rent from
which the former is altogether exempted.
The other main exemption is the reduction of the duty to
6d. in the case of business premises under certain conditions.
Thus, to entitle the occupier to claim assessment on the lower
basis, the premises must be occupied by a person in trade,
exposing to sale and selling goods in a shop or warehouse on