RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES IN ASHBURTON.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11480, 13 January 1903, Page 4

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES IN ASHBURTON.

The question of rating on unimproved values is to be submitted to a poll in Ashburton to-morrow (Wednesday). It is to be hoped, that the ratepayers in that town will not make the mistake that has be«i made in other places—that is, we hope that, they will neither let the poll go by default, nor vote on the issue without fully understanding it. The advocates of the change are fond of pointing to the number of place* in which it has been carried. They omit to ipoint out that in a large number of wises only ;m insignificant proportion of the ratepayers voted, nor do they state what in equally a fact— that a, good.-many of those individuals who voted for the change did so without understanding it, and afterwards, when :t way too late, regretted their action. That this was the case both in Chrietehurdi and St. Albans, to take two recent instance?, is notorious to those who live in those places. Let us first explain briefly what the system is; then we will indicate some of I ho results likely to follow its adoption. Under the old plan—the plan which at present prevails in Ashburton—a, man is rated on the joint value of his land and the buildings and other improvements that oro on it. Under the new system he would be rated on the land only, but, of couree, the land of a borough will be required to raise the , s ame amount on the unimproved value alone as was previously raised on the land and buildings, e tc., combined. For example, the total capital valuation of the Borough of Ashburton for 1901 was £227,539, of which £85,823 was unimproved value and £141,434 improvements. At present the rates are raised on the £227,539. Under the new system they will be raised on the £85,823 worth of unimproved land , alone. The present .general rate, we are informed, is Is in the £ on the annual or rental value of the properties. This is usually considered to be «qual to a rate of £d in the £ on the total capital value, but in Ash--.burton, on the present valuation, we take it that a rate of at least l|d would have to be struck on the total capital value in order to raise the same amount as the .present rate. On the other hand, the Town Clerk calculates that under the new system a rate of at least, w or 3£d in the £ on the unimproved value would be required. In other words, where a man bow pays the equivalent of, say, in the £ on the capital value of his land and buildings, he would under the new system be called upon to pay 3£d in the £ on the unimproved value of his, land alone. The chief objection to the new system is its unfairness. It is one of the chief canons of taxation that a, man shall pay in proportion to what he has, and the services lie receives. Under the new system, if there are two sections side by skte, of the same unimproved value, on one of which there is a two-roomed cottage, and on the other a fine large etore or dwelling-house, the owner of the tworoomed cottage would Rave to pay exactly the same amount of rates as the owner of the store. Nay, even if there wa 3 no building at all on the first section—if it was cot bringing in a penny of Teturn to tire owner—he would still have to pay the same sum annually in rates a-s the- owner of the store. Needless to say, the new system presses very hardly on gardeners, smaM dairy farmers, housekeepers, etc., and the owners of unoccupied land in the outskirts of a town. Thei« is a special disadvantage connected with tlie new system in the case of a rising town like Ashburton. No matter how many new buildings may go up there will be no increase in the borough sevenue from this source. Under the present system, if a new road ia opened up and built upon, the Borough Council is put to some extra expense in the matter of lighting, road repair, and so forth, but this is more than made up by the rates received from the new houses. The owners of tho*e houses are getting good value for the mosey, it is only fair they should pay for the services they receive, acd as a rule they do not grudge doing so. It is evident, however, that unimproved value ci the wust land wiii b>

increased only to a very small extent, if at all. The practical egect will be tim> if Aslibmton adopts the iitfw eystom, anct if it goes ahead in the matter of new buildings, as we hope it will, its expensewill constantly grow, but there will be no automatic increase of its revenue. The onlf way for the Borough Council to get more money will be to increase the amount of the rate, say, from 3£d to 4d, or 4Jd. There are other objections to the new sys tern, but we have probably said enough to cause the ratepayers of Achburton to thin!; seriously before adopting it. They will be better advised, we believe, if they "let well alone."