The Globe. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 978, 14 August 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1877.

We are glad to notice that the question of a change in the incidence of taxation is likely soon to occupy the attention of the Government. An examination of the source from which our revenue is derived will show that by far the largest sum is received from the Customs, and since the change in the tariff some years ago, tbe necessaries of life are far too heavily taxed. The result is of course, that the poor man, as he is called, is subjected to a burdensome and heavy taxation, while the wealthy and prosperous all hut escape. Any party in the House which fairly faces this question and brings about a change in the direction of relieving the necessaries of life, and making up for the loss by the imposition of a property tax, will prove true benefactors of their country. As long as the colony continuesprosperous, the pressure of taxation will not he severely felt, but in periods of depression, when employment is scarce, and work not so well remunerated as at present, our Customs tariff will come to he regarded as a serious burden. Were there no reason beyond the justice of the proposal, we would still urge a change. But when we are brought face to face with financial difficulties which must he overcome by increased taxation in some shape or form, it is high time that an outcry was made. • As our readers are aware, there are large tracts of land, both in this island and in the North, which have been acquired at the cost of a few shillings per acre. The progress of the colony and the construction of public works have made these estates exceedingly valuable. Yet their owners, in many cases, contribute no more to the general revenue of the country than one of their shepherds. There are districts in which they do not even rate themselves for Road Board purposes. Settlement is excluded, for the land is carefully locked up in the hands of the wealthy owners. We are no advocates of the splitting up policy adopted by the dominant party in Victoria at the present time, hut we do not maintain that if population and productive industry are to he excluded entirely from vast districts of the colony, those who do so must be made to pay for such privilege. It is simply monstrous that the owners,for example, of huge estates in Nelson and certain parts of Canterbury, should he called on to contribute so little towards the carrying out of a policy which has added so enormously to their wealth. Were a considei’ahle property tax imposed those gentlemen would ho only too glad to throw that rich and productive country open to the bona fide settler. There are indications that Parliament is inclined to take up this question in real earnest. The necessities of the colony require that fresh taxation should he imposed, and it is the merest act of justice that the land should be called on to pay its just share of the taxation of the country. In his sore distress the Colonial Treasurer eagerly seizes hold of everything within his reach. Our railway fares are raised, so as to extract a few extra shillings out of the pockets of the travelling public. A portion of our land fund, Avhich should he devoted to the construction of roads and bridges, is to ho seized, and all because the G-overn-ment are afraid to alienate the support of the wealthy classes by imposing direct taxation. We hope those in authority will be wise in their generation, and profit by the experience of their neighbours. W ith less excuse than their brethren in New Zealand, the working classes in A ictoria rose as one man at the last elections and returned members pledged to the imposition, not of a moderate land tax. hut to one which would have the effect of splitting up the large estates and forcing their owners, in self-defence, to place their properties in the market. [ As we have said we should he sorry to see such a class cry raised here, hut unless our representatives recognise the fact that at present the incidence of taxation presses unduly on the producing classes, at the next elections men will he returned pledged to more revolutionary measures than have, we are happy to say, ever before been seriously advocated in New Zealand.