3O2 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

The Valuation List has to be revised every five years, and after
each Quinquennial Valuation there will be a crop of appeals for
the Assessments Committees to hear. There is a right of further
appeal to Quarter Sessions, but this is much less frequently used.

Rates are paid by the occupiers of premises, and most occupants
of smaller houses pay them, together with the rent, to the land-
lord, who hands them on to the local authority. If people find
that rates throughout the country are rising they will be less
inclined to buy or rent houses, and the slowing down of building
will mean a smaller demand for land, and less rent for the ground
landlord. So, though the question of the full effect of rates is
disputed amongst economists, it can be said that any change in the
rate is felt at first by the occupiers of the premises, but that in the
long run the burden is shared between them and the ground land-
lords. One obvious injustice in rating is that the size of a man's
house is not necessarily an indication of what he can afford to pay;
a rich man may occupy a small house because he prefers to spend
Jtis money in other ways. The present system, however, is likely
to persist, ho, doubt with constant modification, for some time
to come, because of the difficulty of devising an alternative.
If people were rated as they are taxed, according to their total
income, would they pay to the local authority for the area in
which they live, or where .they worked, or where the property
from which they drew tteir income was situated? No doubt it
could be arranged that one of these should collect the rate, and
then make payments to the others, but the complexities would
be great, and the advantages to be gained have not yet been
shown to be large enough to make the change worth while.
Another suggestion is to transform rates into a local tax on the
value of land. This would provide the community with a satis-
factory income, and any increase in the \prosperity and land
values of the area would directly benefit the local authority.

Here also,-the chief difficulty is that of administration. Meanwhile

the drawbacks of present rating are reduced by the existence of

other soturces of local revenue.