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Wednesday, January 17, 1973
The Bill, he said, provided the necessary safeguards for ratepayers, and
any person who objected to his rateable value had a right of appeal to the
District Court against the assessment by the Commissioner of Rating and
Valuation,
decide."
**This is a matter which, I think, we must leave to the Courts to
If a concession was to be made to the owners of pre-war premises
it should be effected by amendment of the ordinance and not through the rating
system.
In regard to the exclusion of such premises from the ordinance,
Mr. Haddon-Cave said proposals on this point had been made and were being
actively considered by the Government together with other proposals concerning
this legislation.
The Financial Secretary agreed with Dr. Chung that, because of the
present definition of rateable value, there were disparities in values between
premises included in the list prepared in 1968 and those assessed to rates since
then.
Clause 7 of the Bill would prevent this situation from occurring in
the future.
On the question of surcharge for late payment, Mr. Haddon-Cave said
the initial surcharge would have to be sufficiently high to ensure that payments
were not deliberately delayed in order that the money could be utilised elsewhere.
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