THE VICTORIAN TAXPAYER AND THE LAW  e central element of the taxpayer’s relationship with the law was the protection it a orded to ensure only the correct amount of tax was paid, that it was legally levied and justly administered.  ese legal safeguards consisted of the fundamental constitutional provision that all taxes had to be consented to in Parliament, local tax administration, and a power to appeal to specialist tribunals and the courts.  e book explains how these legal safeguards were established and how they were a ected by changing social, economic and political conditions.  ey were found to be restrictive and inadequate, and were undermined by the increasing dominance of the executive.  ough they were signi cantly recast, they were not destroyed.  ey proved  exible and robust, and the challenge they faced in Victorian England revealed that the underlying, pervasive constitutional principle of consent from which they drew their legitimacy provided an enduring protection for the taxpayer.   is Professor of Law and Legal History at the University of Exeter and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is also a General Commissioner of Income Tax. In the past she has served as Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Exeter, Visiting Professor at the University of Rennes, France and a Fellow of the Institute of Taxation.     Tax law is a growing area of interest, as it is included as a subdivision in many areas of study and is a key consideration in business needs through- out the world. Books in the Cambridge Tax Law series expose and shed light on the theories underpinning taxation systems, so that the questions to be asked when addressing an issue become clear. Written by leading scholars and illustrated by case law and legislation, they form an import- ant resource for information on tax law while avoiding the minutiae of day-to-day detail addressed by practitioner books.  e books will be of interest for those studying law, business, eco- nomics, accounting and  nance courses in the UK, but also in mainland Europe, USA and ex-Commonwealth countries with a similar taxation system to the UK. S e r i e s E d i t o r P r o f e s s o r J o h n T i l e y Queens’ College, Director of the Centre for Tax Law. Well known internationally in both academic and practitioner circles, Professor Tiley brings to the series his wealth of experience in tax law study, practice and writing. He was made a CBE in 2003 for services to tax law. THE VICTORIAN TAXPAYER AND THE LAW A Study in Constitutional Con ict C H A N T A L S T E B B I N G S    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press  e Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521899246 © Chantal Stebbings 2009  is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2009 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Stebbings, Chantal.  e Victorian taxpayer and the law : a study in constitutional con ict / Chantal Stebbings. p. cm. – (Cambridge tax law series) ISBN 978-0-521-89924-6 (hardback) 1. Taxing power–Great Britain–History. 2. Tax protests and appeals–Great Britain–History. 3. Tax administration and procedure– Great Britain–History. I. Title. II. Series. KD5375.S74 2009 343.4204Ј2–dc22 2009007869 ISBN 978-0-521-89924-6 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. F o r m y s o n , M a r k vii A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s ix T a b l e o f S t a t u t e s x Table of Cases xiii L i s t o f A b b r e v i a t i o n s xvii 1  e establishment of the taxpayer’s safeguards in English law 1 P r o l o g u e 1 A new commercial and industrial age 4  e  scal response 11  e parliamentary safeguards 13  e administrative safeguard of localism 20  e judicial safeguards 30 Access to the legal safeguards 39 Conclusion 44 2  e taxpayer’s constitutional safeguards of Parliament 47 I n t r o d u c t i o n 4 7  e undermining of parliamentary consent 47 Tensions between the two Houses of Parliament 61  e e ect of the parliamentary reforms 68 Conclusion 75 3  e administrative safeguard of localism 77 I n t r o d u c t i o n 7 7  e role of the executive 81  e executive and localism 84  e assault on localism 94 Government alternatives to localism: the Special Commissioners of Income Tax 105 Conclusion 109 C O N T E N T S viii 4 J u d i c i a l s a f e g u a r d s 1 1 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n 1 1 1  e interpretation of tax statutes 111 Appeals to the Courts 131  e supervisory safeguard strengthened: the growth of certiorari 139 Conclusion 144 5  e taxpayer’s access to the safeguards 146 I n t r o d u c t i o n 1 4 6  e accessibility of tax law 147  e accessibility of the appellate bodies 157 E x p e r t a d v i c e 1 6 8 Conclusion 174 6  e taxpayer, the constitution and consent 177  e Victorian taxpayer’s protection under the law 177 Popular support for change 182 Opposition to the safeguards’ undermining 187 Attitudes to state intervention 192 Constitutionality 197 E p i l o g u e 2 2 0 Index 223 ix  is project was funded by the award of a Major Research Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust. I most gratefully acknowledge this generous sup- port, without which the sustained period of research and writing would not have been possible. I would like to thank Professor John Tiley CBE FBA, Professor of the Law of Taxation and Fellow of Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, for his expert encouragement of this work, and for making me so welcome on my frequent visits to the Centre for Tax Law in Cambridge. My thanks to Mr David Wills, Librarian of the Squire Law Library, University of Cambridge, for his generous assistance with my many queries; to Mr Roger Brien of the Devon and Exeter Institution Library for his constant thoughtfulness in facilitating the writing of this book; and to friends and colleagues at universities all over the world who have willingly discussed aspects of this work with me and whose know- ledge and expertise have been invaluable. Any remaining errors are, of course, my own. Finally, my special thanks again to my ever-supportive family who have borne with the problems of Victorian taxpayers for the past four years: to Mark and Jennie whose help and insight, in the midst of their own studies, I have greatly valued, and to my husband Howard who has again read every dra of every chapter with his usual enthusiasm, perception and unfailing love. A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S x 1225 Magna Carta, 9 Hen. III c. 29 2 1628 Petition of Right, 3 Car. I c. 1 15 1640 Ship Money Proceedings Act, 16 Car. I c. 14 17 1640 Subsidy Act, 16 Car. I c. 8 17 1660 Tenures Abolition Act, 12 Car. II c. 24 106 1689 Bill of Rights, 1 Will. & M. sess. 2 c. 2 17 1692 Land Tax Act, 4 Will. & M. c. 1 21, 22 1694 Stamp Duty Act, 5 & 6 Will. & M. c. 21 6, 52, 83 1707 Scottish Acts Repeal Act, 6 Anne c. 2 119 1747 Houses and Windows Duties Act, 20 Geo. II c. 3 21, 23, 26, 27, 81 1748 Houses and Windows Duties Amendment Act, 21 Geo. II c. 10 26, 35 1777 Servants Duties Act, 17 Geo. III c. 39 27, 35 1778 Inhabited House Duty Act, 18 Geo. III c. 26 27, 35, 81 1780 Legacy Duty Act, 20 Geo. III c. 28 7 1785 Taxes Management Horses and Carriages Duties Act, 25 Geo. III c. 47 27 1796 Legacy Duty Act, 36 Geo. III c. 52 7 1797 Land Tax Act, 38 Geo. III c. 5 5, 21, 22, 26, 27, 35, 36, 43, 89 1798 Triple Assessment Act, 38 Geo. III c. 16 5, 21, 23, 26, 29, 36 1798 Land Tax Commissioners Quali cation Act, 38 Geo. III c. 48 28 1798 Redemption of Land Tax Act, 38 Geo. III c. 60 5, 23 1799 Income and Property Taxes Act, 39 Geo. III c. 13 5, 11, 21, 23, 27, 28, 43, 81 1799 Income and Property Taxes Amendment Act, 39 Geo. III c. 22 41, 43 1799 Commercial Commissioners Amendment Act, 39 Geo. III c. 42 41 1803 Excise Act, 43 Geo. III c. 69 155 1803 Taxes Management Act, 43 Geo. III c. 99 35, 44, 81, 89, 125, 163 1803 Income and Property Taxes Act, 43 Geo III c. 122 6, 11, 22, 23, 27, 28, 43, 81, 143 1805 Income and Property Taxes Act, 45 Geo. III c. 49 107 1805 Income and Property Taxes Amendment Act for Scotland, 45 Geo. III c. 95 100 1806 Income and Property Taxes Act, 46 Geo. III c. 65 11, 81 1808 Taxes Management Amendment Act, 48 Geo III c. 141 125 1810 Taxes Management Amendment Act, 50 Geo. III c. 105 41, 125 1816 Consolidated Fund Act, 56 Geo III c. 98 52 1823 Customs and Excise Boards Consolidation Act, 4 Geo. IV c. 23 48, 52 T A B L E O F S T A T U T E S [...]... supporting tax-specific legal safeguards, namely local administration and the overarching enforcing power of the judiciary The three legal safeguards, namely the constitutional safeguards of Parliament, the administrative safeguard of localism, and the judicial safeguard of the regular courts of law, constituted the bulwarks of the law safeguarding the taxpayer from the abuse of the state and its taxing... new markets in America, India and the Far East The coal, iron and cotton manufacturing industries all grew rapidly, and the development of the railways was astonishing, all stimulated by an expansion in markets and available labour resulting from a trebling of the population Mass production and heavy industry came to dominate, and towns and cities grew up around centres of industry, while London became... entrenched as other legal institutions, would be affected in the inevitable adaptation of tax law and practice The parliamentary safeguards The substantive constitutional safeguard The fundamental protection of the taxpayer was that the tax demanded of him or her was lawful, and the cardinal principle of English taxation was that it could only legally be levied with the consent of the people’s representatives... tax framework to respond to an acute financial need And thereafter, it had to ensure that the existing tax law regime, and any new developments in this respect, suited the demands of its increasingly technical, demanding and dynamic commercial field of operation The fiscal response The inevitable response to the immediate fiscal challenge of the Victorian age was to increase the rate of some existing... determination to implement such a tax regime, and an overall, if not universal, popular acceptance all played their part The Victorian taxation regime was one of considerable scope and depth which marked a change of fiscal culture, with respect both to the substance of taxation and its machinery.66 In the process of this inevitable and necessary reappraisal and reform of the tax laws, procedures and practices,... Secondly, the balance of power between the state and the subject was by its very nature an unequal one, and in no area was this more keenly felt by the individual than in taxation Taxpayers were for the most part ordinary people of moderate means, but even the wealthy were too weak and poor as individuals to withstand the mighty organs of the state.9 When the state argued necessity, the individual taxpayer. .. existing law and legal process were all novel and required a significant degree of adaptation and, in some cases, fundamental changes in principle Taxation and the law of tax in 1837 were not immune to these momentous social and economic pressures Tax had to operate in this new commercial climate in which not only would individuals’ tax affairs inevitably grow in complexity, but the taxpayer population... organs A new commercial and industrial age Most aspects of the three fundamental legal safeguards of Parliament, local administration and the judiciary, were conceived and established in a world very different from that of the Victorian taxpayer in nineteenthcentury England The context of their establishment was an agricultural economy, with domestic commerce and industry generally being smallscale,... nature of the relationship between the taxpayer and law Taxpayers required more than the economic and moral considerations which yielded notions of fairness, equality and good administration17 which were certainly of considerable importance in the formulation of tax policy and the development of an ideology of taxation.18 They wanted safeguards of law and they acquired a role in the imposition of tax... in Victorian England (Cambridge University Press, 2002) E sta bl i sh m e n t of t h e ta x pay e r’s s a f e gua r d s  inadequate, a law of commercial association rudimentary and a property law inhibiting the full exploitation of land and minerals Finally the legal process was one of infinite slowness, technicality and expense, unfit to serve a new dynamic economy and society These demands on the . writing. He was made a CBE in 2003 for services to tax law. THE VICTORIAN TAXPAYER AND THE LAW A Study in Constitutional Con ict C H A N T A L. Stebbings, Chantal.  e Victorian taxpayer and the law : a study in constitutional con ict / Chantal Stebbings. p. cm. – (Cambridge tax law series) ISBN