IGNORANCE OR WILFUL MISREPRESENTATION

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2202, 15 July 1914, Page 6

IGNORANCE OR WILFUL MISREPRESENTATION

During the No-Confidence debate tho member for Hurunui, Me. Forbes, made protest on the ground that he had asked for and been refused particulars of a "subsidiary" or "secret"-valuation roll, which he appeared to imagine enabled the owners of'large, estates to escape taxation., The inference to be drawn from his remarks Was that although this secret roll was provided by the legislation of the "Liberal" Party for a worthy object, now that the Reform Government had come •into office it.was being used to enable large landowners to pay taxation on a lower scale. of valuation than that fixed by tho Government Valuers. The New Zealand. Times of yesterday followed up tho remarks of Mb. Forbes in quite characteristic style, and plainly suggested that Me. Massey is desirous of keeping this "secret" valuation list from the eyes of the public because it will not bear scrutiny in comparison with the valuations of tho Government officials. _ It says, in the course of the article in question: Mr. Massey is unwilling to gratify tho curiosity of Mr. Forbes, and incidentally the inqnisitivencss of other people who desire to bo satisfied that the great landowners aro bearing their fair share of taxation. In other words, Mr. Masss-y wishes to keep' this valuation from the' prying oyes of land reformers.' Perhaps this wish is natural, bennusa the values on this socret valuation, roll are fixed by the territorial magnates themselves, aiid on tho sslf-made assessments the graduated tax is imposed. .... Formerly, the secret valuation roll was under tho eye of a Liberal Minister, who was concerned to see that the valuations were kept up to a fair average. Those of our readers who follow public events at all closely will experience no surprise on being told that the suggestions of these critics of the Government are .the veriest nonsense, and without a shadow of foundation. The article of the Wardist journal itself would scarcely be worth noticing were it not that the text upon which it is based is somewhat unusual. The "subsidiary" roll referred to, instead of enabling a landowner to escape taxation, nas quite the reverse'effect, and in consequence has not found any particular favour with landowners. It is true that this subsidiary roll contains the valuesAvhich owners vol-1 ■unt'arily place on their ' properties, and it is aiso true that those' values! are used for the assessment of land tax; but it is not true that the values can be' in any case lo wer than the values fixed by the Government officials which appear on the ordinary roll. The suggestion that Mr. Massey is assisting landowners to conceal the fact that'they are paying taxes on a value less than the property would be fairly assessed at by the Government Valuer is so very absurd to' anyone who knows anything about the matter, that it is surprising that even so notoriously inaccurate a critic as our contemporary should have ventured to put it forward. _The section of tho Act of 1908 providing for the establishment of the subsidiary rolls (slightly amended by the Death Duties "Act of 1909) makes tho position so clcar that there cannot be the slightest roonr-for doubt on the point. It reads as follows:-— The owner of auy estate .or interest separately valued in. the Slid valuation roll may' from time to time give notice in

writing to the Valuer-General that he requires such valuation, so far as it relates to the unimproved value of tho land, to be increased to an amount named in the said notice, ami tho Valuer-General shall thereupon increase the said valuation accordingly, and shall make a corresponding incriasc in the valuation of tho capital value of the land, and shall insert in a subsidiary roll tho said valuations as so increased. The increased valuations so inserted in tho subsidiary roll shall, for the purposes of this section, ami also for tho purposes of the assessment of land tax, whether ordinary or graduated, under the Land and Income Assessment Act, 1008, be deemed to bo substituted for tho valuations contained in the district valuation roll, and shall, until the next revision of the last-mentioned roll, have for the said purposes the same effect and operation, as if made by the Ynl'iorGeneral iii accordance with tho provisions of the Valuation of Land Act, 1908, and inserted in- the district . valuation roll accordingly. Sub-section 5 of Section: 10 of tha Lands for Settlement Administration Act, 1909, provides: In no caso shall any increased or further increased valuation appearing on the subsidiary roll be altered by reduction. Anyone taking the trouble to read, tho portions of the statutes extracted above will sec at once that, the owner's valuation on the subsidiary roll must always bb higher than, the value assessed by the Government Valuer and entered on the ordinary valuation roll. In no case can a landowner, big or small, in this country pay .taxes on a valuo less than the Government valuation, and if ho chooses to enter his property on the subsidiary roll ho must enter it at a higher value than the existing Government valuation, and must thenceforth pay taxes on that higher valuation. To_ suggest, , therefore, that this "subsidiary" or, 1 "secret" roll, whioh was instituted ■ by a "Liberal" Government, can be used to onable landowners to escape that fair taxation which they would pay under the Government valuation is too utterly foolish for serious con-, troyersy. "