6
Oral Answers
MR HETHERINGTON:-Yes Sir, as far as employers are concerned.
MR WOO:-Thank you, Sir.
ESTATE DUTY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1970
WILLS BILL 1970
FIXED PENALTY (TRAFFIC CONTRAVENTIONS) BILL 1970
SEDITION (AMENDMENT) BILL 1970
LANDLORD AND TENANT (AMENDMENT) BILL 1970
PUBLIC ORDER (AMENDMENT) BILL 1970
Bills read the first time and ordered to be set down for second reading pursuant to Standing Order No 41(3).
ESTATE DUTY (AMENDMENT) BILL 1970
THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY (SIR JOHN Cowperthwaite) moved the second reading of:-"A bill to amend further the Estate Duty Ordin- ance.'
He said:-Sir, this bill is really in two distinct parts. One dealing with charitable gifts, one with a number of largely technical matters.
The charitable provisions themselves deal with two different types of gift or disposition, those made before death and those made by will.
In the first case, the present provisions of the Ordinance require that any charitable gift made by a deceased person within one year of death shall be included in his estate for duty purposes. The effect of this is that, while the gift itself stands duty free, duty is still charge- able on the amount of the gift and must come out of the estate at the expense of the legatees. The purpose of this provision in the law (as of a similar proviso in the case of other gifts made within three years of death) is to prevent the avoidance of Estate Duty by someone with a short expectation of life. But, as a prospective donor, even in the best of health, cannot be sure of the effect of a charitable gift on the disposition of his estate, he may well be deterred from making a charitable gift he would otherwise have made. Clause 2 of the bill, therefore, seeks to amend section 6 to exclude such charitable gifts, even if made within a year of death.
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