Country Life
TITHE AGAIN !
A good deal is likely to be heard within the next few months and thereafter about that curious and historic indeed almost prehistoric land-tax, the tithe, by which the Church of England is endowed. It is within my knowledge that landlords and their agents in several districts—the borders of Northamptonshire is one—are about to plead the law of the land for their refusal to pay tithe, at its present rate. The tithe, of course, varies greatly in different districts. In districts that I have particularly investigated lately it varies between 4s. ed and 88. an acre. At both ends of this scale it happens to be very nearly identical with the rent Now it is laid down beyond any dispute—as previously pointed out in this place—that by section 8 of the Tithe Act of 1891, if the tithe " exceed two-thirds of the annual value of the lands " the Court shall order a proportionate remission of tithe. Now since the annual value of the land (under Schedule B of the Income Tax Act) is a good deal less than the rent—at least in most cases—it follows that if full advantage is taken of this clause the tithe payments would tumble down on most of the poorer soils. The question is of much moment to bbth the Church and the landlord.
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