CROFT INSPECTOR OF TAXES Vs. SYWELL AERODROME LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) [His Lordship stated the facts and after saying that he could not follow the argument of the counsel for the Crown, continued : If the argument had been that the respondents were carrying on the business of granting leases and licences of an aerodrome which they had constructed I could have understood it. But it would not have assisted me to solve the question which is before us, namely, whether or not profits derived from such transactions are exclusively taxed under Schedules A and B. To assert that the respondents are carrying on a business, and therefore are liable to tax under Schedule D. is to beg the question. But I shall have to consider in the course of this judgment certain services performed by the respondents. They are (1) the services of their groundsman whose function is to keep the surface of the landing-ground in good order; (2) the provision of first-aid appliances and tools under a condition contained in the licence from the Air Ministry. This condition can apparently be satisfied by keeping the appliances and tools in an accessible place without the necessity of having any staff to use them or hand them out.

(2.) The first contention on behalf of the Crown was, and is, that the respondents were in respect of some of their activities carrying on a trade and were consequently assessable under Case I. This contention the Commissioners quite clearly negatived by implication. This appears from the language of Case VI which only applies to profits not falling under any of the foregoing Cases. Having regard to the conclusions which I have reached, it is unnecessary to consider the question whether, in view of finding of the Commissioners, it is open to the Crown to argue that the relevant case is Case I.

(3.) The respondents contention was to the effect that all their profits are derived from their property rights as owners of the aerodrome, or from the occupation of the land, or alternatively from a combination of the two; and that accordingly they are completely cover by the assessments under Schedule A or Schedule B, or both as the case may be. The contention that the profits are derived from occupation found favour with Lawrence, J., and these appeals result.