tremendous lottery, and collection--which takes time--may be no less so.

The fair face of the outright and graduated levy would be marred in many
ways. First, there are cases affected by valuation. The valuation of a
fixed rate of interest on good security is easy enough. The valuation of
a field or a house in these days presents more difficulty, but is, of
course, practicable. In practice, however, people do not own these
things outright. They have only an interest in them. This is where the
rub comes. A very large part of the property in this country is held in
life interests, and on reversions or contingencies. It is not a question
of saying that a given property is worth £10,000 and that it forms part
of the fortune of Jones, who pays 40 per cent. duty. The point is that
the £10,000 is split between Jones and Robinson. Jones maybe has a life
interest in it, and Robinson a reversionary interest. You value Jones's
wealth by his prospect of life on a life table, and Robinson has the
balance. But the life table does not indicate the actual likelihood of
Jones's life being fifteen years. It only represents the actuarial
average expectation of all the lives. This may be useful enough for
insurance dependent on the total experience, but it may be a shocking
injustice to the individual in taxation. Only some 10 per cent. of the
Joneses will live for the allotted time, and for the rest your valuation
and your tax will be dead wrong, either too much or too little. Jones
will be coming to you two years after he has paid, or rather his
executors will come to you and say: "We paid a tax based on Jones living
15 years, and he has died; this ought, therefore, to be shifted to
Robinson."


DIFFICULTIES OF VALUATION