I move:—
That sub-section (2) of Section 157 (which relates to the date when income tax is due) of the Income Tax Act, 1918, shall cease to have effect so far as it relates to tax chargeable under Schedule A, other than any tax so chargeable in respect of income which is, or is to be treated as earned income.
This motion is to provide that property taxes shall be payable in one instalment by the person who pays the property tax. The property tax for a particular year is paid at present in this way: half the amount is payable on the 1st of January of that financial year, and the remaining half is payable on the 1st of July following, which is in the next year. The income tax on all other investment income is payable in one instalment. As I explained in my statement, this change in regard to property tax was made when the income tax was 6/- in the £1. As a rule, the tax has been deducted from the rent by the tenant, and when the tax reached 6/- in the £1 it became impossible to deduct that amount from a quarter's rent. Consequently, the change to two instalments had to be made. This will bring us back to the position where, roughly, the tax on earned income is payable in two instalments and the tax on invested income is payable in one instalment. It will bring forward a tax relating to this particular year, to the 1st of January next from the 1st July twelve months. Heretofore, as a matter of fact, half of it had not been payable until three months had elapsed in the following year. It will now be payable in the year in which it falls due.
