House of Representatives.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 6, 2 October 1907, Page 6

House of Representatives.

LAND AND INCOME ASS!|33- ;; . mm, . Tho Tramways Amendment BiH (Hon. J. M'Gowan) was introduced .and read. a> first time. PUBLIC SERVANTS AND POLITICS. Mr. A.R. Barclay (Dunedin North) gavo .notice to introduce tho Public Service Reform Bill with the object of repealing tho regulation which prevents certain public servants taking part in politics. A WAGES QUESTION. MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION. Mr. Ell asked the Minister 111 chargo .of the Exhibition affairs il it. was ■ true, as reported, that tho •supervisor of tho demolition of tho Exhibition buildings was- receiving tho paltry sum of 505., per. week. . Tho Hon. G. Fowlds said tho 'report was partly true..- The-man refe-veu to (Mr. .Idiens) had offered to undertake the work of demolition at a percentage'of, tho sum tiio property : realised. Tenders had previously boon called, but'-the highest was considered unsatisfactory. As ho (the Minister) had to leave for Dunedin, the matter was handed over to the General Manager,, with instructions to arrange, if' possible, for--anything between 10 per cent, and' 20 per cent, of the total sum realised to bf ■phid.' Ho received word that Mr. Idifns would do the work for 15 per cent., and ho then agreed to contract. on those terms., Tho work had gono 011 satisfactorily. A fortnight ago, when in Christchurch, ho i (tlie Minister) had found that certain orders had been presented to the Exhibition authorities for monoy advanced to the contractor for wages in tho oarly stages of the work. That in itself was a breach of the contract. Mr. Idicns gavo the Minister to understand that unless these orders wore paid the work could not go on. This could not bo done, and Idiens was informed that tho only course open , to him was to concel the c ntract. This ho did. and he wasthe'i asked to continue tne work of supervision. Tho arrangement now wa' that Idiens should be paid £2 10s. per week, and any surplus inside tho .15 per cent, was to accumulate, and | bo handed over afterwards in satis-

faction- of tho payment on orders for wages. This was Idiens's own suggestion. The- ; Mihister said' ho had considered that as this arrangement ivas satisfactory to the man it would bo.so'to the ; Government. LAND AND INCOME ASSESSMENT THE . DEBATE CONTINUED. Tho House then went into committee on tho Laiid and Income Assessment Bill. . * ' : Tho Premier said ho had gone inoo tho matter of the '15 per. cent, which was required uiidor clause 16 to complete 'a sale and render it bona fide, and he found himself unable to reduco tho amount to 10 per cent, as had been, suggested on, Friday nk;ht. Ho, however, .would. move that the following proviso lie added to the clause:—"Provided that in any case in which possession has been so 4 delivered, but less: than 15 per cent, is .paid, it shall be'lawful for the Commissioner of Taxes, to exempt ttie seller from tho provisions of this section if ho is satisfied that the -agreement of sale has boon made in good faith, and not for. tho purpose of evading payment of «d tax, ai d is still-in force. The decision of the Commissioner shall be final and conclusive." Principle and Interest. Mr. C. Lewis said that the Opposition members .who, like -himself, were, opposing tho clause, were not doing so in their own interest. Most of them were more likely to be buyers, than sellers,: and. clause 16 would reduce the number of men able to buy land, and thus bring the price down.; Tho Premier argued that such could; not be the effcct of a fell to get large! estates cut up, without possibility of' evasion. In the course of discussion, tho* Premier assured the House that thai sum of £28,000, cost to the revenue during the last twelve years by subdivision of estates, was mads up solely from cases ill which the Department l know that evasion had taken place. ' Mr. Alison's amendment to clause-, 143 wis defeated by forty-one votes to'i eighteen. Mr. Massey moved to strike cut the word "fifteen" in the last lino of <Jio •clause —"until ... at least fif- ! teen per centum of the purchaso; monoy had been paid"—with the object of .inserting a smaller mmrbcr. This was defeated by forty-two tos sixteen. . . Clause .16, with tho new proviso,, was then passed on the voices. . Annual Returns. The Premier obtained permission to, go back >to sccfcion 2, with a view to' inserting three new clauses. ' The proposed new . clause 2a was to'j amend section 18 of the principal Act by repealing paragraphs two toeight, and. substituting the following: —" Returns of land '~ and of ipconie' shall be made : annuaHyi;and'shall contain for - each year full and complete statements—(a) Of a-U land ow-ried by' tho taxpayer at noon on the thirty-'

first day of March immediately preceding the year ;in and for which the'tax, is ;to be charged.; '(b) Of all iiicomo'derived' or. roceived by the taxpayer diiring the year ending on the thirty-first day of March immediately preceding that in and for which tax is to bo charged; .provided that where, such return cannot' : be conveniently made, .the Commissioner, in his discretion, may, for" the" purposo of assessment, .accept; a roturn made up to the Idate of the'annual balance of; tlie taxpayer's books, or he may accopt an estimated return',' which shall' be adjusted- on tliei comple'tion of suchannual' balance.;, and. .(c) Of all other matters ,on ■phich information is required, ,by the Commissioner for the : pjirposp .'of assessingi-tho land-tax or incDmo-tax payable by the. taxpayer."' 1 '! Mr., J. j Allen (Bruce) ■ and Mr. T. 'Mackenzie (Waikouaiti-) objected tothe amendment, on .the ground that" it woujd give' much, extra. trouble' to owners'to make the returns annually., The-iPremier saitt l he thought annual rfcturnsi would be ..more convenient. 'Hp , 03>p}ainQd,,,jn.. reply to objections, that, when.,, there was no change in property and income to be returned,'iit,iwould only be neces.'sary for, the .taxpayer.' ,to write "ho change",oh-a copy of the return supplied by the Department. Mr. Major (Hawera) said tho practice of; making annuar returns would be, more satisfactory,,to ' the settler than makingthe, .returns' biennially or trksiniall-y.

Mr.-; Massoy. said the proposed change l would, .be satisfactory if the forms: .wore, seat' out'..by the Department, ?s tlie premier, had described.

Mr. ;J. Allen"wished. to' know if a, return-marked-''no change" could bo' .used as ovidewe .against the owner in case • of his land , being compulsorily acquired by the -Governmeirt. Tho Hon. R. M'Nab said tins position in'.-, that matter -.would not bo altered from that Hinder tbo law as it now stood. ' •

Now_ sub-clause 2a was adopted, on the voices.' . .

et Mr. Massoy, ■; following up a remark by iMiv.Zard, said that, the inclusion, of the origina hvords "whether before.' or ' after, tho.:passing of this Act" the Bill retrospective, which was very, undesirable. He also said tho.Premior's proposals gave despotic power to the, Commissioner of "Taxes.- He-did not.see tho.need at all for _ clause 16. It would militate agamst the poor man, v-ho would.be unablo .to pay 15 per cent. of the.purchase money.

The Premier replied to Mr Massey's last argument by calling attention to tho amount of evasion that bad been going on. This clause, was to ensure that when the cutting' up of an estato took place an opportunity was given thp. poor man of getting a. portion of it. He added that ho mrght bo agreeable to the retrospcctivo term being limited to ilve years. Mr. T. I£. Sidey (Caversham) asked the Premier if he would add a similar proviso to, clause 17. Unfair Operation. Mr. E .W. i Alison argued against tho retrospective aspect of the clatso, and showed that it would operate unfairly in certain eases. 1 • Tho. l'reraior, in reply, referred to the evasions' carried out in the last five years, and said they ought to.be provided for. It was not fair that a parson who. would be affected tomorrow should know that his neighbour a few days before.'had contrived to escape. The new proposal vculdi meet the-position fairly 1 and squarely. Mr. J. Allen (Bruco) said that any man who sold his land after the passing of this Act would disposo.'j' it* under; this now law. The man who did so four or fivo years ago sold under the existing law. That man was now being brought under tho retrospective- clatiso. . Ho had 110 opportunity to escape.. Tho man who sold after tho Act was passed could evado —and he would evade—but tho owner who had sold five years ago would not be a We. to adopt the new methods of evasion that would arise under this clause. It was unfair. A man had every rijs;ht to divide-his land amoligst his children". " What," asked tho member for Draco, " is the inducement for a man to become a father if ho is not to provide for his children?" (Laughter.) Facts not Rocognised. Sir Joseph Ward • said that Mr. Allen and previous' speakers failed to recognise the provision' he now proposed to add. There ;was too much bopus argument over this matter. The principle of tho Act,'.it. should bo remembered, was tri promote land settlement. As 'to division .among children, (.here wes "nothing" to prevent this wli'ere' the 'transfer waa-'bona-fide. It

was tho bogus division that was being legislated against. They had to carry out the desire of tho country and have the largo estates cut up. Mr. Jfassey, in referring to tho bona fide purchase aspect, recapitulated a •case, cited by Mr. Alison, of a block of land in tho Auckland district where small settlement had taken placo, and little or no money, certainly not 15 per cent., had been paid over by the purchasers. Yet this land which was previously swamp, was now converted into a sorics of dairy farms. The clauso would prevent this sort of thing. Further Points. The Premier, replying to suggestions by Mr. W. Field (Otaki), showed that it would bo almost impossible for tho to substitute improvements for the monoyd eposits. But the proposed , amendment would achiovo almost tho .same good result, for where division was bona fido only a trifling percentage need bo pai.d over. He did not agree with a judge of tho Suprome Court being substituted for the Commissioner of Taxes, bccause of tho unavoidable and undesirable publicity that would result to people. Mi\ J. Allen added furthar arguments in favour of a Supreme Court judge being constituted the final ap,pea3. Mr. A. W. Rutherford (Huranui) said the amount required to the paidover to perfect a sale (15 per cent.) would prove a bar to the segregation' and settlement of estates. A man going on tho land required all the money he eould procure for. agricultural machinery, etc. further argued: that there was no occasion for the 15 per cent, clause, and this impression was forcing itself on the House, tic lJ6lTei'ed on a division on Kiday night; last the Government would, have beoil : 'defeated.

Tim Premier replied that sixteon r .•GovciTjnteiit mombers wero absent 1 the .chamber on that occasion.

Mr. Mraoo jnoved to haro tho words : " wlxiUinir before or " in sub-clanso 'i c?an&! 16 struck out, wrth tho object of preventing tho legislation being rerospsctive. •

Discussion arose immediately aftoi itho dinner adjournment as to whether clans'} 16 applied to the ordinary load. }tax. The Pi-omier stated that it did! ?nbfc, aud 'that he bad consulted the' '.G&cspment law officers on the point. The wtefe of the Bill '(applied to the .gra&tatted tax only; Mri Atassey thought >tho e}ause j as ' |>word'od', would apply to ordinal? iaodi jftax,- as well as _ the graduated taxi A lm<3 should he inserted testate that .this '*»8 not so.

Mr T. Mackenzie sought to introduce two new clauses (one to relieve morfcjpgors of payment of land tax under certain 1 circumstances,, ftnd the other to enable partners in farmij,; to have their land assessed individu ally), but both were rejected;by con-, siderable majorities. j •Flax and Timber.

Tho Premier moved to restore clmise 22 to the form in which it J'was originally submitted.. The effejt of tins will be to exempt staml nil timber and flax from land tax, and 'to render them subject to incometax. The alteration was made to meet the wishes of flax-grwers. , The following new sab-section was also added: —"In assessing under the provisions of this section the income derived by any taxpayer from tho remova lof' flax or timber from any •land there shall be deducted a sum ■equal to five per centum of tho amount in respect of which the said taxpayer was last assessed for land-tax by. reason of • the ownership or occupation of the land used by him for the -production of such income." The clauso as thus amended wa« then agreed .to.'

The Bill, which was reported from committee.

Tlio House was adjourned at' 12.20 a.m.