ABSTRACT
The Inland Revenue investigation for the Colwyn Committee applied 1922 tax rates to a sample of estates of £10,000 and over liable to death duties in 1922 and examined the relationship between estate duty and non-trade assets for those estates with trade assets over £1,000. The Inland Revenue investigation of 1951 applied 1951 tax rates to a sample of estates of £10,000 and over liable to death duties in 1948 and also examined the relationship between estate duty and non-trade assets for estates over £1,000. To make possible a comparison between the two years, the 1951 investigators adopted the 1922 definitions for one set of calculations of non-trade assets by which all debts were charged against non-trade assets. It has been assumed that the numbers of estates within a division are evenly spaced so, if estates from a division at 1922 rates do not fall into one division when 1951 rates are applied, they can be easily allocated between divisions.
