RATES AND TAXES. 127 



euts of such, a doctrine state tliat there never was 

 any reasonable ground for such a contention, as 

 any slight advantage which was obtained by real 

 property in regard to the death duties was more 

 than counter-balanced by its assessment on gross 

 income to Schedule A of the Income Tax. It is 

 true, they argue, that this was to a certain extent 

 remedied by Sir William llarcourt in his Budget, 

 which allowed of the deduction of one-eighth 

 irom the gross rental in the case of land, and of 

 one-sixth in the case of house property, but this 

 scale of deduction is, in the case of well-managed 

 estates, entirely insufficient to meet the justice 

 of the case. But inasmuch as it was said the 

 Finance Act Avould equalise the Imperial taxa- 

 tion of real and personal property, let us give 

 an instance showing that this is scared}^ the case, 

 and how hard it presses on the owner of landed 

 property. For instance, suppose a man has 

 £100,000 in Consols. He has only to sell a por- 

 tion of this money to meet the death duties. 

 But suppose a landowner's property is estimated 

 to be worth £100,000 : how can he meet the death 

 duties? If he sell a portion of his property to 

 meet them he depreciates the whole. To retain 

 the whole property, his income must be crippled, 

 and the estate itself be less well administered. 

 It must always be borne in mind, as Sir Eichard 

 Paget rightly declared, that on well-managed 

 estates the income over and above what is required 

 for the management of them is comparatively 

 very little in these days. If a man has a fortune 

 besides his landed property, matters are different ; 



