174 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



very much harder for the agricultural land- 

 owner. " That hardship could be mitigated 

 in a measure — though the ultimate burden on 

 the land would be unchanged — if it were pro- 

 vided that three of the new taxes — the Reversion 

 Duty, the Increment Value Duty, and the Mineral 

 Rights Duty — should fall on the capital fund 

 and not the revenue fund of an estate. The cost, 

 too, of the provisional valuation under the 1910 

 Finance Act (which is enormous) should come 

 out of the capital fund, and not fall on the 

 tenant for life. Suppose an estate from which 

 the tenant for life draws an income of £5,000 

 a year. The estate is not really his : it is in 

 the hands of trustees. If he has to pay these 

 new duties and the cost of provisional valuation 

 out of income, his income is tremendously cut 

 into. If they are paid out of capital, the estate 

 has to meet the same burden, but the position 

 for this generation is eased. I argue that, since 

 there is to be confiscation, it is better to con- 

 fiscate a small proportion of the capital than a 

 very large proportion of the income." 



So in the upshot I found the position as 

 regards agricultural land taxation in England 



