Leading Article: No artistic licence for tax avoidance

WHAT DO the English do on International Labour Day? Open their stately homes to the labouring classes, naturally. This weekend is the unofficial opening of the heritage high season, when the owners of great country houses, gardens and works of art allow the people through the wrought-iron gates of privilege. For the most part, the idea of a "national heritage" expresses a happy compromise between feudal past and democratic present. But there is still too strong a sense of condescension in the relationship between those who describe themselves as trustees of national treasures and those in whose name the treasures are held.

The most telling example of this is the reaction of some stately home owners to Gordon Brown's tightening of the rules for giving the public access to works of art. Last year, 41 rich individuals were allowed by the Inland Revenue to keep houses, land, paintings, sculptures and furniture, rather than selling them in order to pay inheritance tax bills. In return, they promised their fellow citizens the right to enjoy the works of art in their original settings; in effect, they pay their taxes in kind rather than cash. It is a good scheme, but it depends on the owners keeping their side of the bargain in good faith, and there was too much evidence that some of them did not. The law allowed them to offer access "by appointment" - would 12.10 to 12.20pm on a Wednesday next year do?

The Chancellor, quite rightly, used his Budget to amend the law to require owners to provide open access at fixed and advertised times. Some of the owners, complaining that this requirement is too "onerous", have resorted to what they may imagine is a form of blackmail. They claim that they will be forced to sell up after all, and that art treasures will be bought abroad and "lost to the nation".

This is a self-defeating argument. If the public cannot see them, they are "lost to the nation" already. As for the sentimental notion that certain works of art ought to stay in one country rather than another, Mr Brown should have the courage of New Labour's free-market convictions. If owners will not let us in, let them sell up and pay their taxes like the rest of us.