532 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Taxation Gbievances. 



40. These grievances were very general on the part of the witnesses. 

 They may be divided as follows : — 



(a) Complaints that tenants of fruit farms paid income tax under 



Schedule A, as well as under Schedule B. 



(b) Complaints that under Schedule B they paid, not on one -third 



of the annual value, as other agricultural tenants, but on the 

 profits. 



(c) Complaints that assessments for local rates, and, in consequence, 



for income tax (the income tax assessment generally following 

 the poor rate in England), were put up too soon after fruit 

 had been planted. 



(d) Certain special grievances in connection with the rating and 



assessment of glass houses. 



41. (a) With regard to (a) and (b), which may be described as income- 

 tax grievances, the Committee had the advantage of a carefully explained 

 account of the present system from Mr. Bell, one of the Superintending 

 Inspectors at Somerset House. As regards Schedule A, Mr. Bell ex- 

 plained that in the case of all tenancies, if they are for seven years or 

 more, the assessment can be raised over and above the rent if, in the 

 opinion of the Commissioners, the annual value has been increased by 

 improvements. The result is that the tax on the excess amount falls on 

 the tenant, as the landlord naturally only bears the tax on the rent 

 actually received by him. This is the grievance brought forward by 

 Messrs. Smith and Wood quoted above, and marked (a), and these and 

 other witnesses represented it as a hardship and a discouragement to 

 fruit growing. The Committee cannot entirely endorse this view. It is 

 not a special grievance of the fruit grower, but applies in all cases where 

 a tenant improves a property held under a lease of seven years or more, 

 and, if it did not apply, a certain amount of property would go untaxed, 

 as the landlord cannot be expected to pay on more than the amount he 

 receives. The tenant, in the meantime, is the beneficial owner of the 

 improvement. But, as a matter of fact, it is very often the landlord, 

 and not the tenant, who suffers by it ; for the deductions to which he is 

 entitled before the assessment is made, viz., the tithe, the one-eighth 

 allowed by the Finance Act of 1894 for repairs, and the land tax, are 

 calculated on, and deducted from, the whole amount of the increased 

 value, and not from the actual amount of the rent, so that in such cases 

 he does not obtain the benefit of the whole, or, perhaps, of any of the 

 deductions. 



42. (b) With regard to Schedule B, Mr. Bell explained that there is a 

 special rule (called Rule No. 8) for assessing market gardeus and 

 nurseries, whereby, instead of paying on one-third of the annual value, 

 the tenant pays on the estimated profits, being assessed practically 

 according to the rules of Schedule D, though nominally under Schedule B. 

 This is the grievance mentioned by Messrs. Lobjoit, Clayton, and others, 

 and marked (b) above. This rule used to apply to hop gardens also, but 

 was abolished by the Income Tax Act of 1853 in their case. It should 

 be observed, however, that the rule does not apply to fruit plantations 



