TAXATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1517, 26 March 1887, Page 3

TAXATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Commenting upon (ha article of tho " New Zealand Timos," on the above •u'jjot, which we ropriuted m a rcoent issue, the " Tiraarn Horald" esys :— " It ia argued that it is o'.oarly wrong to Bay that the burdens per head of Now Zealand oibnluta are increasing rapidly, but the oritio who, on tho baits of the 0 u-ea we have given, oooies to the co^clueion that the bur ion is growing lighter, or at the worst remaining about stationary, is equally at fault with those who form their opinion merely from ih.9 gross sum raised m the abverol years. In the first plxce there is a grtat doal raoro raised by lncal bodies than there formerly was, and the atrong tendency is to relieve tho central Government still further of its bu.-dsna and to cast the oxpenditoro on locdltioß. The sums railed for Bach purposes do not appear In the totqla of taxation or m the oatlma'o3 of the indeb'odaetH of the population per head. Bir not tho losb do thoje sums some out of tho pool eta of the colonists, and not tho 1 jso should hey be taken J uto aocunt whon nn at tamp* id rnadu to oatima'o iho financial pofi ion of tho people. Bat another factor m Ilia calculation ia tho Bpanding r/ovrer of the commanity, and asaurodly ih tislensthui it was before the depression e<,t led oYw.i on the oolony. There m a oerloua dotioii iv the general revenue this year : that s U a iy the central Government hao raised c u>sido'ably less thun ilia ealimate, or, m other words, tho peoplo havo pure'"mo ' less dutiable goods than it waa supp :u-d they would purchase. At the sumo ti no the population has slightly lucre at od since last year. Bit, o early, whoever took tha lessoned revenue, divided it by tho to'al of the population, and from tho result (a loss taxation per head) drew tho conclusion that the oolony was becoming better oft, would fall in'o >ihtigo blunder. The true deduction to bo made would not bo that a doQclt m the revenue is a ofgn of prosperity m tho people, which is an absurdity, but that ia New Zealand at the present timo a larger population has not aa much Bpnuding power »a a. smaller population had m former years. This is exactly the position, and every business man, every earner of wages, and every producer knowa it, Practically, therefore, taxation fs increasing, beoiuae the people are lest able to boar the burdou.