102 RATES AND TAXES 



Whether the idea of the local income tax 

 could be extended to all incomes, even as 

 in old times, to the hypothetical income from 

 movables, is a wider question, but if it 

 cannot, then it seems that ratepayers might 

 be allowed some deduction from their con- 

 tributions to the national taxation. Just as 

 a deduction is made for insurance, so some 

 deduction might be made in the national 

 income tax on account of rates. This would 

 directly throw part of the burden of the 

 rates on the owners of personal property. 



It may be pointed out also, that on the 



43-75 P er cent., the old basis of estimation for purposes of 

 income tax. If this be only approximately correct, it 

 follows that the farmers whose accounts have been 

 furnished, have for the twenty years past received on an 

 average only sixty per cent, of the sum which was in past 

 days considered an ordinary and average profit." 



Cf. also the remark in the report of Sir E. Hamilton and 

 Sir George Murray (p. 143 of Final Report on Local 

 Taxation) : " The rateable value of agricultural land is a 

 more misleading test of profit than in the case of any other 

 rateable property." 



