THE LAND TAX BILL.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 172, 26 October 1877, Page 7

THE LAND TAX BILL.

Tbe Daily Times on Wednesday was a little behind the time in discussing the possibilities of what may happen in Victoria should the Legislative Council throw out the Land Tax 8.11, considering that the news of the third reading in that body was telegraphed more than a week ago. Instead of being a revolutionary measure, as our contemporary by the whole tenor of his remarks would indicate, and a " decided blow at the propertied classes," as he distinctly asserts, the Bill (or Act, for it has become law) merely effects that property shall bear a fair proportion of the burden of taxation to the relief of those means of raising revenue which press npon the class who have to work out their living day by day with no other capital than their hands and heads. We have frequently expressed our opinion, that a readjustment of the incidence of taxation in this direction is urgently required in New Zealand, and before ' long we predict will be imperatively j demanded, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts which notoriously are being-' made to gag the free expression of public opinion and to pervert its natural exponents into organs of the landed proprietary. As an illustration of the present state of things, we find Mr Woolcock, in his late speech upon the subject, asserting that there are in the j Colony "112 persons who hold between them 7,700,000 acres of land, the value of which cannot be estimated at less than L 10,000,000 of money." Now, these 112 persons do not contribute more, collective.}', to the revenue than 112 labouring men or artisans whose joint property may be taken as under L 2,000. Then, again, the great proportion of the Colonial debt incurred under the Public Works and Immigration scheme has been so expended as greatly to improve the value of landed-property j: but the landed proprietors have not been called npon to contribute one single extra shilling more than the labourer whose only advantage has been a slight | increase of wages during the the pro- , gress of the works. The State can hardly prosper under such a state as this, nor is it likely that the people will much longer put tup with it. The late Ministry was pledged to bring down proposals >for a readjustment upon the basis of nn 'income and property tax, and the necessity of this has been consistently argued by Sir George Grey when in opposition. We trust he will be firm in his purpose and make the readjustment as be well may the keystone of his policy. There are already signs of disturbances in the air, and h may prove dangerous ior Parliament much longer to play at politics, disregarding the rights of the masses and tossing the shuttlecock between cliques of the " upper ten." We have been led into these cursory remarks by the perusal of the Times article, but it is not our intention at present to discuss the equities of this or that way of raising revenue-— we shall be prepared to do this at fitting times and when occasion demands.. We will, however, touching a land tax, quote a few statistics wliich may prove of value in the consideration of the subject. According to returns mande up to a recent date there are in the Colony 13,98^,398 acres of land alienated from the Grown, and it is a romarkable fact that of this large amount only 167,304 acres are^ held in freeholds of less thau fifty acres,' so that if in our calculation we omitthesu' small freeholds we should still have subject to taxation 12,81 0,089 acres. Out of this quantity there are 10,605,991 acres remaining unimproved, and it may j "fairly be assumed,' therefore, that the. j land is" being held for speculative put*-: |;poses. As a rough -estimate, but not,

we think,' much above the mark, the average value per acre of this land may be takenat 40s, which gives L25,632,17'S value of rateable property in the hands of private individuals. A tax- ofl per cent., which could hardly be considered excessive, would therefore yield a revenue 0f'L256,321, contributed, be it recollected, by a class of persons who have hitherto escaped scot free, although benefiting largely by the expenditure of the loans to meet the interest upon which so large an amount is requh*eclto be raised. There is one not unimportant question which in any proposals for readjustment will have to be met, presuming that a "land tax" and not a " property tax" should be decided upon. How are absentee proprietors, many of whom derive large incomes from land, although not holding large areas, to be touched ? Their property has increased in some cases a hundredfold in value, yet not one penny do they contribute directly or indirectly to the revenue. Take a case in point. We know oi' one section in Dunedin occupied by a magnificent pile of buildings, where the ground rent of LO 5s a foot per annum goes to a gentleman who never sets foot in the Colony. He enjoys the income absolutely free of any charge whatever, and there are hundreds like him. There are again certain institutions to which we will do no more at present than allude.^ which derive enormous revenues from the Colony without contributing in any corresponding proportion to our funds. These are amongst the evils wliich have to be grappled with, and which we trust will be grappled with in earnest by the new Ministry. They have the advantage of beinr bound by no old party associations, and have a clear field foi* the development of fiscal, financial, and administrative reform. The first and last are most certainly needed, and with regard to the second we shall hear in a few days what Mr Treasurer Larnach has to say in the matter. — Star.