INCREMENT DUTIES.
rTo TEE EDITOR Or TEE "SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—The Government system of valuation for increment duty grows very interesting, and you may perhaps think my experience of their methods worthy of publication. About a dozen years ago I bought from the occupier, who had built it some five years before, a freehold house and grounds, for which I paid £1,800. I spent a considerable sum in alterations and improvements, added a coachhouse and stable, a bathroom and two lavatories, boarded the roof, sunk a new well, recast the drainage, and generally made it a sound, comfortable, up-to-date house. My sister became my tenant and kept it in perfect condition. Three years or so ago, for family reasons, my sister decided to move to another house, and I then proposed to give the first-named house to one of my sons. My solicitor prepared a deed of gift, and as a father cannot now give his son a horse without the risk of having to stick a Government stamp on his hindquarters, it was necessary to insert in the deed the value of the gift. Taking into consideration what I had given for and spent about the house, I assessed the value as £1,800. The Inland Revenue sent their valuer, who reduced this amount to £1,200, the sum for which the property was mortgaged when I bought it. Considerable correspondence took place, and eventually the value was raised to £1,350. This second valuation I also declined to accept, tore up the deed, and agreed with my son to put the property up to auction, with a reserve of £1,800, at which price it was sold. Although nearly two years have elapsed, no attempt has yet been made to collect increment duty on the £450, but I am still thirsting for a fight.—I am,
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