Clause 26. — (Miscellaneous Exemptions for Certain Kinds of Property.)

Part of Orders of the Day — FINANCE (No. 2) BILL – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 27 May 1965.

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Photo of Mr Niall MacDermot Mr Niall MacDermot , Derby North 12:00, 27 May 1965

No, I will not.

The second Amendment is based on a case which we have considered a number of times in Committee and which has aroused a good deal of interest and sympathy, and it is one to which the right hon. Member for Rushcliffe referred again. That is the case of the disposal of a farm handed on, perhaps, by a farmer to his son. This is a particular example of something which we discussed yesterday, namely, the problem of the assessment for Capital Gains Tax on a passing on, on death, of a small business in circumstances in which the imposition of the tax at that stage could cause great financial difficulties to the person inheriting the farm, because of the difficulty, perhaps, in raising the finance to pay the tax.

I said yesterday that there was a real problem here and I said that I would look into it. We will be coming to the question of the man who disposes of a small business in similar terms—on retirement, perhaps to provide for his retirement—and there is obviously an analogy here. What I have in mind is that we should consider that in relation to this question of farming land. Apart from that—which, as I say, I regard as a special case—I do not see any reason or grounds why farming land as such, or an interest in farming land, should be singled out for special treatment compared with any other form of capital gain.