SPECIAL TAXATION.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 268, 17 November 1874, Page 5

SPECIAL TAXATION.

To the Editor of the Cromwell Argus. Sir, —No subject requires more attention itt the political world than the raising of money for state purposes. This is mainly owing to the great difficulty of levying the burden equally on all. I do not think it would be wide of the mark to sav that in no country are the national taxes equally levied, and this applies more especially to uewjcountries ; and New Zealand is certainly no exception. In this country the question of equity has been sadly neglected, and never was this more evident than at the present time in the Province of Otago The people of this Province are made up of four olaases, viz.,—the pastoral, agricultural, commercial, and the min* ing. At a rough glance it might be supposed that each of those industries contribute an equally proportionate share to the General and Provincial revenue ; but it requires very little serious consideration to see that such is really not the case. To show tint, I will onlv del with one of the four industries, viz., the mining,—the largest industry I venture to say in this Province, the most neglected, and poorest represented. That it is the heaviest taxed appears to be generally admitted ; in fact, cannot be denied. The miner has no reason to complain of tha general taxation, such as customs, stamp duty, ordinary licenses, ko. ; but it is of the most unjust and oppressive special taxation under which he groans that ha complains, and justly to>.

This tax is called the Gold Export Duty, and is nothing more nor less than the Government; charging a little more than sixpence in the pound for every pound the miner earns. To put it this way : a miner earning £3OO per year only gets £290, out of which he has to pay his shai<s of general taxes, which in this country are very laeavy ; indeed so heavy that many of those who are not specially taxed are feeling it oppressive. Some might and do say that two and sixpence per ounce is not a very heavy tax, and serves as a "hobby" at electioneering times. But such talk only comes from those who have never given the 'matter any consideration. To show this, I will give a few figures, which speak so forcibly and plainly, that comment is scarcely necessary. The export from New Zealand from the Ist of April, 1857, to 30th September, 1874, was 7,510,493 ounces of gold, worth £29,222,845. Of this, Otago contributed 3,312,493 ounces, representing £12,986,505. At 2s. 6d. per ounce, the duty paid on gold up to last year, the goldfields of the colony have paid in eighieeu years special taxes to the amount of £938,811. Otago's share of the money so unjustly squeezsd out of the goldfields is £414,311, or nearly half a million of money. When large numbers are used they are very apt to be undervalued, so I will show how this obnoxious special tax affects individual miners or companies. Take, for instance, the las'; cake of gold turned out by the Cromwell Company, which was about 1200 ozs.; this at £4 per ounce would be L4BOO ; deduct from that the export duty payable on it, and L 4680 remains,—losing LI2O of special duty from one cake. So for every 1200 ounces of gold, Government gets Ll2O. Tiiis special tax is one of the agencies now so vigorously at work driving the miner from his field of independence. The diggings are gradually being deserted. This has been apparent within the last two or three years. Only those who are on payable ground, and those who are permanently settled will remain, and the former only till the ground they are on is worked out. Few will go prospecting,, because they feel that in doing so they are only opening up a way whereby the squatter and farmer may keep their burden of taxation easy. But there is a remedy for this, which the miners have in their own hands, and the sooner they apply the remedy the better, as they are gradually getting weaker ; and that remedy is agitating with determination to have no goldfields representative, either General or Provincial, who will not strain every nerve to have special taxation abolished. It is most lamentable to see how some of the gold fields representatives play with their constituents, even to the extent of pledging themselves to support a reduction of the special tax on the goldfields, and turning round and opposing such reduction when it suits their own selfish ends. I beg pardon for saying there was only one of the goldfields representatives at the last meeting of the Provincial Council who opposed the reduction of the gold duty. His reward was L4OO, and the honour of being a member of the Round Robin Government. This was a tempting bait held out by the squatterfarmer part}', and no wonder a young and innocent member was caught.—l am, &c, W. B. Carrick, November 11, 1874.