The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

STAMP.

Mr. M. GIBSON asked when the public would be In-
formed of the intentions of the government with reference
to the advertisement duty and the newspaper supplement
duty. (Hear, hear.) It was generally understood that the
original resolutions in the budget on these points had been
abandoned or considerably modified; and the public was
naturally anxious to know what was the new plan, while
the house could not but be desirous to see what the plan
was before being called upon to discuss it. (Hear, hear.)
He wished also to know when the bill, leave to introduce
which was given six months ago, for declaring the law on
the question, what was a newspaper, would be proceeded
with ? Oa three three 'ejects the time was certainly come
when the country should know what were the definitive
plans of the government. (Hear, hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER did not
know if the right bon gentleman was correct in saying
that it was generally understood that the original reso-
lutions on the question of advertisement duty and supple.
ment stamps had been withdrawn. He (the Chancellor of
the Exchequer) had, at least, given no authority whatever for
such a rumour. He had, however, always intimated from
the Bret that those 'resoluti4ns would be open to recon-
sideration, aad that it was desirable that ample time should
be taken, as an early vote could not be taken on them, to
obtain all available information on the subject, and all the
views, as far as possible, of those who were best acquainted
with the interests which would be affected. Some period
had now elapsed since the first mention of the matter, and he '
agreed with the right hon. gentleman that the time had
now come for the convenience of the parties interested
when he ought to acquaint ,the house with the definitive
intentions of the government. It had been his intention to
ds so, irrespective of this reminder of the right
honourable gentleman, and on Monday he would
lay the resolutions, in their amended form, on
the table. With regard to the bill referred to, the right
hon. gentleman should recollect that it was a bill under-
taken by the law officers of the late government ; but the
delay in proceeding with it on the part of the present go-
vernment had not been occasioned by any disinclination to
adopt it, or from any doubts as to the points which bad to
be settled, but was because the question was so mixed op
with the changes he had proposed in the budget in regard
to.taxatioa on newspapers, that until these resolutions
were disposed of they could not conveniently go on with
the bill. But id the course of a fortnight he thought
they would be in a position to go on with the bill.
Mr. BRIGHT suggested, then, that the bill should be
at least laid at once on the table. (Hear, hear.)
The motion (that the house at its rising should adjourn
to Monday) was then agreed to ; and the clerk at the table
proceeded to the reading of the orders of the day.

CUSTOMS, dm., ACTS.
The report wu brought up and agreed to.
SUCCESSION DUTY BILL.

Om the motioirtVet this hill be reed a second time,

Sir J. PAHINGTON intimated that after what had
occurred he would not propose the amendment (that the
bill be read a second time that day six months) which it
bad been his intention to bring forward ; nor would he
offer any observations on that stage, having found that his
friends were not prepared for the discussioa ; but he gave
notice that they would discuss the principle of the bill at
the next stage, vie., in committee; and in the meantime he
hoped the schedules would be distributed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER—Then
they could take the discussion on Monday. (Hear,
hear.) The schedules were printed ; but, to com-
ply with the general wish, he would circulate
them at ease as an amendment to the bill. Before going
farther, however, he would discharge a pledge he had
given, and state at once, not at all with a view to discus-
sion, the intentions of the government with respect to
taxing corporate property. The government had been, it
was known, of opinion that in proposing this extended suo-
cession duty on private property it would not be just to
leave exemptions on corporate property, which enjoyed the
privileges of protection under the law. The
question arose, in what way could a tax be
vied ? Corporations never died, and if it had been proposed
to establish an equivalent system whereby corporations
should be taxed every 26 or thirty years, there would have
been the clinician of determining when theee cycles should
begin. The proposal, therefore, was to effect a commuta-
tion whereby enporatioes should pay in a certain
proportion annually. Then they had to consi-
der in what way the amount was to be framed.
Should they go on the assumption that the transmission of
their property was analogous to the tranamission of pro-
perty in the direct line or as analogous to the transmission
from one set of strangers to another ? On the whole, they
thought they should not take either of these extremes • and
the proposal they should make was that on corporation pro-
perty, speaking generally, there should ultimately be levied
an annual tax of 6d. in the pound on the net revenue as
equivalent to the succession duty, but that for a period of
seven years from the present time, inasmuch as it would not
be fair to make the tax accrue at the first moment, for the
period of seven years from the 6th of last April the tax
would only be at the rate of 3d.:in the pound, but after the
6th April, 1860, the tax would beset the rate of 6d. in the
pound. Then, with regard to the question of the various de-
scriptions of corporations and how far theta: ought to apply to
them universally,how far any of them ought to be exempt, or
how far other bodies ought to be considered as corporations
for the purposes of the succession tax, it was quite obvious
that with regard to municipal corporations they would act
safely in adopting a rule correspondent with that which had
been adopted in the sets imposing the income tax, namely,
a rule which regarded as liable to the tax the realised pro-
perty of corporations, but which exempted from tax such
of the revenues of corporations as were derived from rates
and taxes laid on the community. As respected trading
corporation', they did not, he thought, fall in purview of
the plan, and for this plain reason, that although they were
corporations for the purpose of carrying on business, yet
the whole property invested in them was divided
into shares, and was therefore represented in the investment
of individual property, and the investment of individual
property was liable to the succession tax. Then they came
to a large class of miscellaneous corporations, charitable or
eleemosynary, academical and ecclesiastical corporations ag-
gregate. These would all be dealt with in the same man-
ner, Obit was to say, under the rule he had already de•
seribed. They would be subject to the tax of 3d. in the
pound on their realised revenues for seven years, and of 6d.
in the pound thereafter. He thought he had now named,
although briefly, all the important classes of corporations
aggregate, with the exception of one, which was not very
important in a fiscal point of view, but which interested the
feelings of so many pc rains, that perhaps he had
better refer to them. He referred to the case
of religious corporations strictly so called, namely,
religious and benevolent societies which were supported in
the main by annual subscriptions or donations. With re-
gard to these it was not proposed that they should be sub-
ject to the tax at all, except in reference to such portions of
thole property as they might have derived from bequests or
as they might have been in possession of anterior to the
commencement of the present century, because he thought
that nothing could be more antagonistic, to eitind policy,
and he was sure nothing could be more repugnant to the
feelings of the heuse and the country, than to lay on the do-
nations and contributions of living persons which really re-
presented the principle of charity in its full and free
action, anything in the nature of a tax. It seemed
to him just to draw a distinction between that