118 LOCAL TAXATION 



graduated duty actually payable on two estates of equal value. 

 one consisting of personalty and the other of realty, is un 

 doubtedly the same, yet an inequality arises from the fact that 

 the payment is far more easily made in the one case than in the 

 other. It is certainly evident that there now remains no single 

 branch of taxation Imperial or local of which it can be said 

 that personalty bears more than its proportionate share. 



4. We submit that the principle of equalisation having been: 

 extensively applied to the Death Duties cannot in common 

 justice be allowed to stop there, but must be further applied to 

 all other branches of direct taxation. The Land Tax and the 

 Inhabited House Duty, amounting together in 1893-4 to 

 2,443,738 (exclusive of 878,360 Land Tax redeemed), are two 

 branches of Imperial taxation which fall upon realty alone, and 

 constitute glaring instances of inequality, as no equivalent tax 

 is imposed on personal property. The inequality is specially 

 marked in the case of the Land Tax, which is officially acknow- 

 ledged to have been originally imposed upon all property. 



5. The total sum of the Death Duties to which the principle 

 of " equalisation " was applied amounted to 8,910,000. The 

 total amount of local expenditure to which we desire to see the 

 same principle applied was in England and Wales in 1891-92, 

 24,809,294. The details of this are given subsequently. If it 

 was fair and just to equalise the smaller amount of Imperial 

 taxation, we submit that it cannot be less fair and just to equalise 

 the larger amount of local taxation. 



6. It is not necessary to attempt to show that taxation whether 

 Imperial or local ought to fall equally on all classes of property. 

 The principle that all property should contribute towards local 

 taxation has been repeatedly recognised by the Legislature , 

 and the Finance Act perpetuates the principle by providing for 

 the permanent allocation of a portion of the Estate Duty to the 

 relief of the rates. 



7. The two main propositions w T hich we desire to establish art- : 



I. That real property pays an undue share of local 

 taxation as compared with personal property. 



II. That agricultural land pays an undue share of local 

 taxation as compared with other real property. 



8. Our chief complaint is with regard to that portion of local 

 expenditure which is devoted to objects of an Imperial or national 

 character, viz. (taking the figures for England and Wales 

 1891-92) : 



Relief of the poor and lunatic paupers 8,590,848 



Police, prosecutions, &c. 4,695,591 



Highways, &c 6,684,834 



Education (including school boards, re- 

 formatories and industrial schools and 

 technical and intermediate education) 4,838,021 



24,809,294 



