TH^SDAY, NOVEMBER 12,1891. ■?/#';.. The Land Tax

Feilding Star, 12 November 1891, Page 2

TH^SDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1891. ■?/#';.. The Land Tax

' 4 Tjse Land and Income Assessment Tax inflicted on a suffering people by the self-styled liberals now in power in the colony made' quite a sensation at Homei where, w 8 are informed by a- valued correspondent now in London, it is likely to 'do New Zealand a lot of harm. The Economist of September 26tb, in an article on the ' '/subject, says :— ." Seldom, if ever, has 'ptherei- been- more jinequitable legis- ! .Ilgfipnvb^.'any'.-Bntiah community than Mat^conts|iiied in the Land and In-?cp)Se-"tax-JJAgseßsmeht 'Bill, which it ; |^pulb|<fle'eni ipassed; the Lower House fitt^ug&f," and-, being a money Bill, p^/&l^ly;;be altered in the Upper "House. r,'£&tAth'e." General Election at 'tne close;, of last year, a number of labour -candidates -found seats in the New Zealand,. Parliament, and a new ; Administration "'being' established ; through' their it is perhaps natural to find such measures : as a i Sh'op^Hpdra Billra, Factories Bill, an Employers' Liability . Bill, arid a ' ;Truck : Bill being pa'aSedi'" Members hav6"/alsd proceeded to themselves increased remuneration for .their, .services^ although the salaries of /Government employes have been cut ; dqv^na'll 'round after a wholesale fashibiir But : dyer and above that ■ there is "'the" hew income-tax whicb : all' publicjcompanies: will be, required to/pay-;Tat -.theL'rate ,of .l'Sj.-in the £, while r .the. people in : !New. Zealand will mostly ;^ec,ure ; -iafge r ,a^batements, and the! working classes! will escape nlaltogetheiv I ' And finally there is the larid^tax,' ! which is the most strongly pronounced of them all — a tax which the Government do not scruple to staljeVis impp'sed with the view of • outting up the large estates for the ..benefit of the small settler. This is accomplished by means of a tax from which people whoso holdings are - -valued at4ess-"than £ 1,500 are freed altogether, they being at the same time entitled, to deduct up to £3,000. as tho value of improvement, while large landed- proprietors aro mulcted to the extent of' double and eypn treble the initial rate. Further, •dbsenteeß-afe-tp.'.pay. 20 per cent additional;:;' This/' .'rate of, taxation, it should- be'remarked,-'is on the assessed capital;" value ;of • the estate — not on income,' 'arid it is '''easy to calculate what--. 'the' equivalent -on income amounts . Fd./V>Tflking the highest rata of : taxation (for estates, valued at £210,000 and upwards) a land-tax of 2Jd means - '':— -If the estate returns 4 per cent:, the income-tax per £ will be 5s 6-£ d j if the estate returns 5 per cent.,, the income-tax per £ will be 4s ?d ; if the estate returns 6 per cent.,, the income- ta^ per £ will be 3s 9 5-6 d; if the estate returns 7 per cent., the income-tax per £ will be 3s ;i 2-7 d. .Such a form of taxation is grossly unfair ; but when an impost reaches as much as 4s or 5s in the £ on income,, it means- the forcible writing down "of capital value and income by. ..a most alarming amount. Beyond, this, mortgages are to be taxed. Tho landowner is required to paypp the total value of his hpldiug,; but can recover Id in the £ on the the amount of any mortgage from the mprtagee. . Either this means a compulsory reduction of '"' interest :on mortgages throughout, the colony, a reduction which may affect £40,---000,000'bf capital so employed io the extent off or $ per "cent, per annum, or m:>re likely it will result in a general increase" of the current rates for mortgage's, or 'the wholesale surrender of estates into the hands of mortgage' companies. Now, mortgages are mostly affected by means of British Capital imported into the colony, SndV, the pffect of this measure if it be permitted to come into operation on April Ist next, cannot fail to be disastrous. If Now Zealanders have any respect for. their good name and credit, they will not suffer such measures tp: pass. If the Government desire to cut up the large estates, let them. buy them up on fair terms (the present holders would be 'Very glad to sell), and parcel them out afterwards. Within the past few days . contracts for . the purchase of New Zealand lands have been cancelled in view of this legislation." Iv our next issue we will publish an article viewing tho subject from an Australian stand point.

On Tuesday afternoon, just as we were going to press, the agent of the Press Association at Wcodvillc sent through a long telegram giving a report of a meeting of the Ministers, and the Knights of Labor, held in that town. Now, if the wire had been " boiled clown" and put in at a reasonable hour in the forenoon we would have been able to publish it, and therefore had some return for the cost of tlie telegram, but, as it was, we were actually put to a money loss through either the idleness or tho stupidity of tho agent. Surely he might have known that on the clay succeeding a public holiday tho columns of all newspapers would be taxed to tho utmost to get iv items from other parts of the world of far grcitoi" interest to the public than the report in question.