THE VICTORIAN LAND TAX.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1264, 6 April 1878, Page 3

THE VICTORIAN LAND TAX.

It will be seen from the subjoined extract from the "Argus" Summary for Europe, that the receipts from the Victorian land tax will fall very far short of the expectations of its originators : As the classifications under the Land Tax Aot are being published, the injustice of the measure of taxation and its failure to realise the aims of its promoters are becoming more and more apparent. Under the Act the land is divided into four classes, the first being land capable of carrying two sheep to, the acre, J/he second three'(Mßep to two acres, the jihird a sheep,' and the fourth less than a sheep to the acre, and the oharges are respectively Is., 9d., 6d., 3d. per acre. The Chief' Secretary submitted the 'following estimate of the taxable area:—First class, 2,300,000 acres; second class, 1,774,000acre5; third class, 1,221,000 acres; totah 5,295,000 acres. As to the fourth rrlegs ha declared inap there was scarcely any land of thel'fourth clase held ia large quaatities («

come within the scope of taxation. Actual facts, however, show that the hon. gentleman was entirely mistaken. The return l.st published gives the following totals with regard to estates over 5000 acre*:—First class, 17,711 acres; second class, 20,965 acres; tl.i-d class, 180,038 acres; fourth cl iss, 203,633 acres. The batch includes the large estates in the counties of Ripon, Rodney, and Gronvillo, and if these dis l riots are not the most favorably situated in the colony, neither are they the least. In the pick of the Western district there will be more first class land than this particular list shows, but the earlier returiM go to demonstrate that even there the third and fourth class will predominate. In fact, the Government are all abroad in their calculations. Land which they imagined would be classified as first-class is put into the second and third division, and their secondclass land figures in the third and fourth schedules. While some of the owners of poor land are saddled with a burden which is ruinous, and which Ministers never dreamed of imposing upon men of their position, some owners of rich lands at all events will escape that heavy penalty whiuh Ministers hungered and thirsted to exact. The tax apparently will be partial, hitting this man heavily and sparing another. O e important point is that as the revenue estimate was based on the assumed overwhelming preponderance of the first-class land, the fulling off in receipts must be very marked. The experts, comparing the published lists with the amounts put down for the districts which they cover, do not beiieve now that £140,000 will be obtained, and the sum originally etated was £212,000. As to the £IO,OOO which was named as the sum required to work the Act, it is being exeeedtd liberally by the employment of a horde of classifiers at three guineas per day, or £llOO per annum. The sum now named for expens- s is £50,000 for the year, and thus the Treasurer will be fortunate if his tax nets him £90,000. Indeed, the latest returns make it doubtful whether the t/ross return of the tax will be more than £IOO.OOO.