The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1892. Taxation on Land

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 45, 1 October 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1892. Taxation on Land

The Commissioner of Taxes has sent in his reports to Parliament during this session, and they are very instructive. They show how the Crown Lands are disposed of and how the new taxation will probably work out. The following are some of the particulars : — The miniI ber of landowners in the Colony is 91,501, and the value of their holdings amounts to L 92.371.166 for improved land, whilst L 54,427,178 represents the unimproved value. The value of improvements is therefore L 37.943.99 1; but of this only L 9,016,505 is subject to taxation. The value of land assessed as liable to pay Land Tax is L 55,105,290, and the value liable to pay Graduated Tax is L 26.743-,--370. The total estimated number of Land Tax payers is 11,407, and of Graduated Land Tax payers 1,319. About half the landowners — namely, 45,192— have land of an unimproved value of less than LIOO, and 23,709, about a fourth of the whole, haye land of a less important table, appended to the report of 16th September inst., is that of freeholders of land outside borough and town districts, classified by area, showing the total value in each class. " From this table are excluded lands of those owners who have less than fiye acres, and there are included all lands outside boroughs or town districts, excepting some township sections under five acres — that is to say, all lands are included that can be considered to be productive." There are 17,538 owners of from 100 to 1,000 acres, value L 20,533,069; 1,766 owners of from 1,000 to 10,000 acres, value L 14,949,253 ; 232 owners of from 10,000 to 50,000 acres, valve L 11,744,683; and 30 owners of 50,000 acres and upwards, value L 5.712-,--915. Three hundred and eighty-one persons own land to the unimproved value of between LIO.OOO and L 20.000; 200 persons between L 20.000 and L 50.000; 79 persons between L 50,000 and L 100.00 0; 18 persons between LIOO.OOO and L 200-,--000; and 6 persons L 200.000 and over. The Commissioner calculates that the Land Tax will realise £219,608; the graduated Land Tax, £67,307 ; the Income Tax, allowing for material " increase on investigation," £93,000 ; companies, £47,000 ; business, employment and emolument, £45,000, The new taxation, therefore, may be expected to produce £350,000. The Property Tax m 1891-92 realised £356,741. This, no doubt (cays the Dunedin Star) will be highly satisfactory to the Treasurer, whatever the inequitably-taxed landowners may think. It will be seen, however, that there is not much margin, and that any alteration of the assessment in the way of reduction would considerably disturb Mr Ballance's finance. The Government may, therefore, be reasonably expected to vigorously oppose any attempts in this direction.