CHAMBER'S PROPOSALS RE VALUATION 133 



(b) Valuation Authority.- We recognise that the County 

 Council must be the supreme rating authority for each 

 county, but in view of the many duties already thrown on 

 the members and officials of County Councils, we consider 

 that much of the work should be carried out by local Valua- 

 tion Committees. We are of opinion that it would be a 

 mistake to abolish the present assessment areas, but the 

 Committees working therein should be under the direction 

 of the county valuation authority. By this means it is 

 hoped that uniformity of valuation throughout the county 

 would be attained. 



(c) One Basis for Imperial and Local Taxation. The main 

 object of the Bill should be to provide one assessment which 

 would be used for (i.) Schedule A, (ii.) Schedule B, (hi.) 

 Land Tax, (iv. ) Inhabited House Duty, (v. ) County and 

 Local Rates (including Water-rate). This would not have 

 been obtained under the Valuation Bill, 1904, as is shown 

 in Appendix I. of our report. The figures therein stated 

 are calculated on the hypothesis that the several authorities 

 agree in their estimate of value ; where (as nearly always 

 happens) they differ, still greater anomalies may result. 



It was found in 1904 that the Local Government Board were 

 apparently either not able or not willing to ask the Inland Revenue 

 authorities to alter their basis of Schedule A, Schedule B, or 

 Inhabited House Duty, but we now ask the Government to intro- 

 duce a method in the forthcoming Valuation Bill which will 

 give one figure for both Imperial and local taxation. This will 

 necessitate the amendment of various Income Tax Acts by the 

 insertion of a clause in the Finance Act of 1908. 



We consider this one assessment to be impossible so long as the 

 Inland Revenue authorities collect Schedule A on the Gross 

 Annual Value, less one -eighth or one -sixth for repairs, and a 

 deduction for Tithe and Land Tax ; and the Inhabited House 

 Duty on the Gross Annual Value with no deduction ; while for 

 local rates varying deductions for repairs are allowed from the 

 Gross in accordance with the requirements of each particular 

 case to form the Rateable Value. 



Land Tax should be assessed on the " net annual or rateable 

 value" [R. v. Ivychurch Land Tax Commissioners (1894), 

 58 J.P. 446] ; but in practice for some reason it is assessed on 

 the gross and not on the net annual value. 



The County Rate (County Rates Act, 1852) is assessed accord- 

 ing to a " basis or standard " of the " full and fair annual value " 

 of the property rateable to the poor in each parish, and under 

 Sec. 6 is to be estimated on the same principle as the rateable 

 value under the Parochial Assessments Act, 1836, Sec. 1. 



We therefore recommend that there be one Net Annual Value 

 only, which figure should be used as the basis for both taxes and 

 rates. 



