Land & Income-Tax

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 11, 25 July 1891, Page 3

Land & Income-Tax

.The Government Bill for changing the incidence of taxation was introduced by message from the Governor, and its reading wiUj ; probably, come on next week. The Bill provides for the repeal of the -Acts imposing the property-tax, and the substitution therefor /, of a land-and-income-tax.-The Bill, should it be passed, will come into operation on the first of April next. The rates of the taxes are to fee fixed : frpm%ear to year by a separate 3i11, W has been the case with the Property; Assessment Acts. ....-/:," By'^schedula A, the land-tax is to be Jeyied'.on'the actual value of land, but improvements up to the amount of j£3ooo are; to be' exempted, as is also any mortgage J due on the land. "Actual 1 ■value" is denned as the capital value for the land, with improvements, could be purchased for cash. " Improvements' ' mean buildings, fencing, draining, clearing, .and grassing, whose effect shall be -visible and unexhausted at the time t f the valuation-. la case of the draining of Jand,- clearing : from, timber, scrub, or fern, and laying down in grass, no deduction is to be allowed if the work- shall have been •done niore than ten years prior to the date of the assessment. If, after deducting the JKOOO exemption arid the debts -clue on the land, its value does not exceed j£15()0, the owner is to get an additional -exemption of £500; that is to say, all Jand owners whose net real estate, deducting the I^3ooo exemption, is worth only . £1500, are to have an extra exemption of £900. Purchasers of Crown land on ■credit are to,be liable to the tax, but the amount owing by them to the Crown is to be deducted from the assessed value, just as if it were a mortgage on the land, leaseholders are to be taxed on the value of their interest in the land held by them. Mortgages are to be taxed on the actual yalue v of >the mortgages held by them ■over land, but every mortgagee is to be •entitled to £500 exemption. Mortgages Are not to be liable to the graduated tax mentioned below. In addition to the ordinary tax on land, there is to be a graduated tax as follows : — From £5,000 to £10,000, one-eight of a penny ; .£IO,OOO to; £20,000, two-eights of a jpenny; L 20,000 to L 30.000, three-eights of a penny ; L30,00b to L 40,000, foureighths of a penny ; L 40.000 to L 50,000, iive-eighths of a penny ; L 50,000 to - L7d,000, six-eighths of a penny ; L 70,000 to L90,0d0, seven-eighths of a penny ; 190,000 to 1110,000, one penny ; 1110,000 to L 130,000, one one-eighths oi a penny ; 1130,000 to L 150,000, one twoeights pf a jenny ; L 150,000 t0H70,000 one-three eighths of a penny; L170,00C to L 190,000, one four-eighths of a penny ; L 190,000 to L 210,000, one five-eigiiths oi a penny; and finally, L 210.000 and upwards, one six-eighths of a penny. This graduated tax is to be levied on the tota! amount assessed on the unimproved valut of' the' land, and no 'deduction is to bt made in respect to mortgages. By Schedule C. all companies excepi life insurance companies, . are to be liabh to an income-tax on ther net gains. In the case that a company that has bor rowed money from non-residents of Nev Zealand on debentures, such company ii •.to be deemed the agent of the debenture holders, and to be taxed accordingly ;But the company may recover the t&: firbm the debenture-holders and the lattei are not allowed any exemption. Com parties are not to be allowed any ex emptipn, but shareholders in them an not to be liable for taxation on the in comes received from' shares held in sucl companies. Life insurance companiei are to be liable for in come-tax upoi incomes |derived from any other soursi than land investments or mortgages oi land. Schedule D provides for the income tax on business. Income derived fron business is defined to mean profits re ceived in New Zealand from business o any kind, whether carried on in th< colony or outside of it. An exemption o » 1300 is given in respect of all income , derived from trade. J Schedule E deals with professional in ' comes received by the practice of a pro fession, ,by salaries, pensions, annuities etc: The exemption in this case is alsi • | fixed at LBOO- -' (Jfor cohitnuatio&of J&eading Matter se *- ' fourth page.)