The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-04 00:00:00

Act, becomes payable out of the proceeds of the land
before any portion of them is available or applicable to
the profits of the capital invested in its cultivation. It
is further important to consider the effect of this charge
on the land in the case of a serious fall in the price of
agricultural produce. Under the old law, the value of
the tithe would correspond with that of the crop, but
under the law of commutation it would take several
years before the land would be relieved in the amount of
its tithe.

The intensity of the pressure of a burden must be
e
measured by the relative ability to support it ; and the
Committee, therefore, place before the Howe an
which
esti-
mate of the rateable value of the real property la
return made to the House of Lords, theanEnuaa
the enumerated burdens are assessed. Accorldivnagluteooaf
real property assessed to the poor-rate inl
amounted
Wales in the year ended Lady• day,
IcBhur,ch, and el England
da and
o
62 540,030/. The land-tax, higb
79"501, would thus be
poor-
ratf s, al toe, amounted to
98.1;0ut 15 per cent. on the
equivalent to an inc,.me-tax of
in England. and Wales..
annual value
aboveof real
sum
Ii to thepurfor.Zy7.9sol. is added the tithe
e n..t merged in the land, C. 4.500,0001.
ktnaukting ag total of 14,187,9501., the contribution annu.
ally levied on real property for the public service under
the five heads of tithes, land tax, poor. highway, and
church-rates, is equivalent to an income-tax of nearly
23 per cent. 051 62,540,0301:. the rateable value of the
real property in England and Wales.
This sum, however, is probably such below the ac-
tual value of the property liable to the above-named
rates. The Committee believe that the returns whicl
state the rateable value of real property in England and
Wales to be 62,540,0301 have been made from the rate-
books ; and as in some parishes property is not entered
at its gross value, a certain amount must be added to
the above sum before the actual value of real property
in England and Wales liable to the poor• rate can be
obtained. The annual value of real props rty, as deduc-
ible from the income-tax, amounts to 85,802,7351: in Eng-
land and Wales. The land-tax, highway, church, and
poor-rate (including the county-rate), would be equiva-
lent to a tax above eleven per cent. on this valuation ;
but it should, however, be remarked that mines, other
than coal-pits, manors, and fines, which are exempt from
poor-rate, are included in the above estimate.
The Committee are aware that the above-enumerated
sums do not represent the whole contribution levied on
real property for the public service. In some counties
rates are raised under the head of bridges, lunatic
asylums, and constable rates; while the land is still
liable, in case of the militia being called out, to a heavy
disbursement for the support of that national force. An
additional charge has also been imposed on the land by
the expenses of valuers and solicitors incurred under the
Tithe Commutation Act. Mr. Blamire estimates the
above incidental charge at an average of 2s. Id. per
acre. The Committee, however, have not deemed it ne-
cessary to enumerate charges of a merely incidental and
temporary nature; nor have they, from any returns made
to Parliament, been able to ascertain any amount of
separate rates raised in some districts in addition to the
poor and county rates.
The stamp duties levied under the head of " Deeds
and instruments" in 1844 amount to 1,646,365 ; but a
portion of this sum being derived from other sources,
ought to be deducted before the burden affecting real
property in that respect can be correctly estimated.
The Committee, moreover, wish to direct particular
attention to the important evidence given by Messrs.
Senior, Stewart, and Baxter, on the unequal pressure im-
posed by the various stamp acts on dealinks with real
property. The last-named witness, Mr. Baxter, says the
stamp upon a 501. sale (calculating a certain length of
conveyance) would amount to 12+ per cent. ; on a 1001.
sale to 5 per cent.; on a 300/. to 2+ per cent.; on a 5001.
sale to 1/. 14s. 3d. per 1001., and above that sum 1 per
cent.

Toe transfer, moreover, of real property is subjected
by law to other difficulties, expenses, and inequalities of
a similar character. According to the evidence of the
same witness, the expenses. including =tamps, upon a
sale of 50/. value. amount to ne less than 30 per cent. ;
upon a -.ale of 1001. value to 15 per c- nt. ; upon a sale
o' 600/ value, to 7i per cent. : upon 1,500/., 5 ps r cent.
The C. mmittee are convinced that the marketable value
of real property is seriously diminished by the tedious
and expensive process attending its transfer. Nor is it
only its the transfer of real property ihet the pressure
of this burden is telt. It is a work of time to raise
money on landed security. and the law expenses inci-
dent to the transaction are a cousiderabie addition to
the interest on the sum borrowed, The transfer of the
debt or mortgaee is also attended with serious expenses
to the mortgagor ; the process of discharging the land
from one loan, and subjecting it to another, being both
heavy burdens upon the proprietor. Mr. Baxter gives
the following evidence on the expenses attending mort-
gages :—"A mortgage for 501. would cost, in stamps and
law expenses, 30 per cent. ; a mortgage for 100/. would
cost 20 per cent. ; a mortgage for 450/. would cost 7 per
cent. ; a mortgage for 1,500/. would cost 3 per cent. ;
a mortgage for 12,500/. would cost 1 per cent. ; for
25,000/ it would cost 15s. per 1001., and for 100,0001.
it would cost 12s. per 1001."
The objects for which the above restrictions and taxes
are imposed are all of a public nature, and interest alike
the possessor of personal property and the landowner
who derives his whole income from reality. The pro-
hibition to grow tobacco, and the restriction on the use
of malt for agricultural purposes, are imposed for the
protection of the revenue raised for the general purposes
of the state. The stamp duties levied in connexion with
real property are applied to the same objects ; and the
direct charges which constitute the heaviest burdens on
real property supply the funds applicable to the internal
services of the state.
The Committee observe that the annual amount of na-
tional income, as deducible from the income tax, in 1842,
amounted to 244,760,5801., while the real property rated
to the poor-rate, according to the returns made to Par-
liament in the same year, was 63,540,0301. Thus a
great portion of the admistration of justice, of the main-
tenance of the fabric of the church, and of the internal
communications of the country, as well as the entire sup-
port of the poor, are all defrayed from a taxation from
which nearly three fourths of the national income are
exempted.
It is incumbent on the Committee to remark, that the
relative propertion of the special burdens on real pro-
perty assessed upon houses and other property, as com-
pared with land, has of late years been increasing in a
progressive and rapid ratio The Committee refer to
this change with pleasure, as indicating a large increase
in the fixed capital of the country; and cannot doubt
but that in the districts where the change has been the
greatest, a meterial relief has been afforded to the rate-
payers by extending the field over which the local bur-
dens are spread. But, although the proportion between
the different classes of real property has thus been
altered, the burden does not fall the less exclusively
upon real as compared with personal property; and the
Committee feel it incumbent on them to remind the
[louse, that neither the la.v nor the spirit of the consti•
tution originally contemplated so partial a system of
taxation. The poor-law of Elizabeth, and the land-tax
of William and Mary, embraced every description of in-
come; but, in consequence of the comparative facility of
rating visible property, end the small amount of income
derived from other sources in the early period of their
assessnent, personalty s-ems to have escaped its legal
share of contribution t,) the public service. It is neces-
sary, however, to :.13;ervw teat the liability of stock in
trade was contimeel by law 4e a late period, and is. up
to the present day, only suspended by an annual act of
exempt ion.
The Committee have further directed their attention
to the charges et* a public nature, from which real pro-
perly has become exempt, while property other than
real remains liable:-
1. Legacy and Preis ste lity.—Freelaolds are exempt
from legaei and probive duty. Tee Comnettee have
Lot uLca to cx4i.e. asuouc. th legacy
etel fe-obate fury pai,i by le,s2lioal property ; but they
feel it their duty to draw attention to the tact that lease-
holds are not only liable to the stamp duties on dealii gs
wi h the property inter vivos, but also to the probate and
legacy duty. Nor can the Committee avoid reminding
the House, that h-gaey duty is paid in every case where
the testator has devised his lands to be sold ; and,
according to the evidence of Mr. Baxter. a solicitor
of very great praetice, nine will, out of ten, in the
middle ranks of life, convert the whole land into
personalty for the purpose of division. The evidence of
Mr. Pressly tends to confirm the previous evidence of
Mr. Baxter, that a considerable portion of the legacy
duty is raised on freeholds devised to be sold for the
purpose of division. He witnesses that Mr. Trevor, the
controller of the legacy-duty, estimates it (the portion
teased on freeholds devised to be sold) at five-twelfths of
the amount. Assuming the legacy duty to be 1 200 0001!
he eEltimatee the proportion of duty arising 'from' real.
estate at 500,0001. "I shlidnok.n"otthtehinwittnielass
more than
tb...,egl2o,otiao
"he has put it too high,
a fourth, or scarcely a fourth, of
duty arises from land." The witness, -howeverar,:dtacbeyes
not include leasehold property in his caculation I which,
being liable to both probate and legacy duty,
added to the above-mentioned estimate before' we arrive
at the full portion of the legacy duty arising out of the
ee2 e
Taxeds
on thheorlsrsi.ll-
Ilusib-andry horses are to the far-
mer what machinery is to the manufacturer ; and so
far as the latter is exempt from t
er„ or other
power,
extent ought the former to be. Thelfitemn, e same
d
m water,on the machinery of
the manufacturer, whetheroxfatsiotena.
principle of is rated with his buildings, for the purposes of
the income-tax and of local taxation,
the amount of rent which would be given by a solveet
tenant for their use ; and the thrashing machine and
other fixed machinery for the farmer is rated with his
buildings and the rest of his farm on the same principle.
The moveable machinery of the manufacturer and its
t the plough
produce are exempt from such raging, while the arable
improved
land of the farmer is rated at the
would
to it beyond its natural value by the introduction
value given
introduction of the
cesibe i
plough upon it, which value
were withdrawn from it ; and thus, by rating
his property on the increased value produced
by the use of his moveable
machinery, the
latter is indirectly, but not less effeetively,
taxed, as well as his fixed machinery. It has been
urged, that as trade hones are liable to taxation, the

absence of duty on husbandry horses constitutes a spe-
cial exemption. There is, however, this difference be-
tween them, that the former cannot be considered in the

light of machinery where they are not used for the
purposs of production ; and as the tax on the farmer's
horse was, in effect, a tax upon his plough, it consti-
tu•ed a peculiar burden upon the machinery of the agri-
culturist, from which that of all other manufacturers

wri.s free ; and the removal of it cannot fairly be con-
sidered as a special exemption, though in some instances
where it is retained on horses used in trade, the c
tinuance of it may pertaps be held to be a peculiar
burden on those traders. It should also be noticed,
that the farmer suff rs indirectly to a considerable
extent by the tax on horses, inasmuch as it tends to
limit the number k<pt, and consequently the de-
mand for the animal, as well as fur the produce
of the land required for bie sustenouce, The eQunit-