Catalogue description Land Tax Redemption records

The land tax, based on a valuation made under taxation legislation of 1692, was voted annually from that date until 1798, when the amount voted for that year was made a perpetual charge, subject to redemption or purchase. A series of Acts beginning in 1806 authorised the exoneration of land tax charged upon lands and buildings belonging to ecclesiastical and charitable institutions with an income under £150 per annum, subject to a maximum in one year of £6000. Those benefiting from this procedure were required to transmit a memorial describing fully the exonerated property and a certificate of redemption signed by two of the Land Tax Commissioners for the appropriate district.

Business relating to redemption and purchase of land tax, as well as all business relating to sales, mortgages or grants under the Land Tax Acts, was executed for the Board by a Land Tax Redemption Office, under the superintendence of a Registrar of Land Tax. The terms of redemptions varied over the years, and by 1950 stood at twenty five times the annual assessment. The Finance Act 1949 introduced compulsory redemption in certain circumstances, such as when property changed hands, from 1 April 1950. The Finance Act 1963 abolished all unredeemed land tax with effect from 25 March of that year.