XN000022-1973-01-17 — Page 12

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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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