STATE HOUSE RENTALS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 46, 3 October 1949, Page 4

STATE HOUSE RENTALS

Sir, —With reference to your recent article on State houses. It is now time that the whole system of State house rentals was reviewed? Surely it would not be too much to ask those oh a high income to pay a reasonable rent so that those on the lower income could have a tew rental house? After all, why should a businessman on say £ISOO a year be subsidised into a State house to the same extent as a pensioner—or are we, degenerating into a nation of subsidised sissies? I would suggest that a. variable scale of rentals be used and that each tenant have his rent adjusted each year on presentation of his income tax assesment, this way the family man (who has large tax exemptions) would not have to- pay the same rent as a childless couple although both may be in the same income group. No extra staff would be required to cope with change as the scale would be fixed and no investigation or test would be required. This system of rental was, and probably still is in use by the Air Force , the scale of rents being governed by the rank of the occupier of a house. ' In conclusion I would like to ask that the Government consider my suggestion and try to eliminate at lease one of the unnecessary subsidies that is causing so many New Zealanders to develop “Housemaids Knee.” f Yours etc., “MAC”