The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-09 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 9, 1853.

Another amendment to Mr. GLADSTONE'S pro-
position respecting the renewal of the Property
and Income Tax, and one involving a very im-
portant principle, will this evening be brought
forward in the Committee of Ways and Means,
by the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Berk-
shire, who has given notice that he will move the
insertion of a proviso, to the effect that the
Income Tax should be levied on the net annual
value of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, after
due allowance made for repairs, insurance, and
management. The facts of the case are simple
and indisputable. They are not merely recognised
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but have
been relied on by him, as establishing an existing
distinction between precarious income and that
arising from permanent real property. The Right
Hon. Gentleman boldly asserted that real estate
was practically charged 9d. in place of 7d. in the
pound, inasmuch as more than 2i per cent. of the
gross rental was absorbed by the expenses neces-
sary for the preservation of the property in suit-
able condition, and for other outlay incidental to
its condition. Mr. PALMER adroitly avails him-
self of this admission, and justly complains of the
unfairness of the system, which charges not merely
the amount applicable to a person's private
purposes, but that over which he has no con-
trol. A demand for redress naturally follows,
and the Financial Minister will be compelled
once more to defend the iniquitous system, of
which he is the champion, in an assembly far more
sensitive as to " the rights of property" than to
the rights of industry.
Whatever may be thought respecting the merits
of the proposition, so far as the contributors under
Schedules A and D are concerned, there can be no
doubt as to its gross injustice as between those
under Schedules A and C. Real estate is sub-
jected to many charges from which personal pro-
perty is wholly exonerated. Not only is the en-
tire support of the poverty of the country charged
upon it—not only is it responsible for the county
rates, and various items of local expenditure—but
it is also obliged to support the police force of the
district, and to defray the expenditure incidental
to the administration of criminal justice in the
vicinity. It almost appears as if no protection
were required by the owners of personalty, and
that the majesty of the law was only to be vindi-
cated when there had been an aggression on lands
or tenements. It would certainly appear as if any
distinction that could be made between real and
personal property were more than compensated by
the burdens above referred to, which are cast ex-
clusively on the former, and that every due
allowance should be made to the former in
any additional scheme of direct taxation.
But so far from that being the case, we
find that one description of real estate—viz.,
houses--is taxed to the extent of 9d. or 6d. in
the pound on the gross annual value—for as we
have already repeatedly pointed out, the impost,
though nominally levied on the occupier, practi-
cally falls upon the proprietor, inasmuch as the
rent, which Would otherwise be paid to him by
the tenant, is diminished pro tanto. And it is
also subjected not merely to the additional 7d. in
the pound, in common with personal property,
but no allowance is made for necessary repairs, or
the other out-goings to which house property is
peculiarly liable. This certainly is
neither fair
nor just, and but for the extraordinay arguments
that have recently succeeded in the popular branch
of the Legislature, we should have thought that it
could not for a moment be sanctioned by an as-
sembly of intelligent gentlemen. But the entire
system is based on injustice, and is unfair and
inequitable in all its details. The Financial
Minister fights the battle of the moneyeeracy.
They are the favoured individuals, and all others
are relentlessly sacrificed to their aggrandisement.
Let ns see how the case really stands between
the different classes. The fundholder, mortgagee,
ersonal property a
(pro-
annuitant, all owners of p
perly so called), with few exceptions, p y
71•
.in
the pound, and no more, on the dividends,