The Origins of the British Fiscal Cadastre (original) (raw)

Part 1 of the Finance Act (1909-10) introduced a series of duties on land including a 20% tax on the increase in the incremental value of land. This was payable on its transfer, sale or lease or on the death of the owner. Corporate and unincorporated bodies were to pay the tax every fifteenth years and there was to be a tax of 0.2% per annum on the capital value of unimproved land where building had been held back for speculative purposes. These new taxes required the creation of a fiscal cadastre in order to provide a definitive valuation of each piece of land on a specific date as a baseline against which subsequent increases in value could be measured and taxes levied. This was the first national fiscal cadastre for the UK compiled by professional valuers using modern valuation techniques. The paper examines how the fiscal cadastre was compiled, including the organisation that had to be created for the purpose. In the event the duties were never collected. Political changes brought to power a government that was opposed to the duties and they were abolished, but not until after the fiscal cadastre had been created. The UK does not have a general cadastre and at that time did not have compulsory land registration. The study of how the fiscal cadastre was created helps to identify which were the preconditions that supported it. In drawing up the fiscal cadastre the government had access to accurate large-scale maps compiled by the Ordnance Survey. There was a valuation profession organised by the Surveyors' Institution. Its members had established valuation methods and knowledge of current market conditions. Many of them were recruited as temporary employees of the Valuation Office to work on the fiscal cadastre. The government was also able to draw on the knowledge of the ownership and occupancy of land in their communities possessed by assessors of local property taxes. Such taxes had been the mainstay of local government finance since the sixteenth century. The absence of land registration and a general cadastre therefore were no constraint on the compilation of a fiscal cadastre capable of taxing land according to its market value.