The Hokitik Guardian MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7th 1921 REDECTION OF TAXATION

Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1921, Page 2

The Hokitik Guardian MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7th 1921 REDECTION OF TAXATION

' Tiik Wellington ‘‘Post’ 1 with nil its . ij ii a I >}•■ vievs upon other (piestions of « litsl.-class iiojHii taiice: remains lailh* i fiil to tli** HaManre-Scddou land policy ! an<l «tiintly to >.«•«■ in Ms M asses'’" concession to the hie land holdI ei’H an auspicious heoinnino with 11 ** * * promised reduction nf taxation lor | which the whole comtiii'tiitlias h•* u | clauiourino. “Thi- eitt to the payers j of laud tax. who are "*‘ll ahh to pave* •it “if* <»:;»*h not ordy t<• the . preach of oivin*» aw ay public iuo*ic> to I t ho'-e who do not need 't. The i ! pro.ich also lies that the (hat rum •Mt i is rc,|nein<j a t.a\ which is !<• v i<■<!. :■ <lniittedly. mu I'm leveiuic |inrpi".is. lint fur tlir purpose "I Mi aUinp up I• i>j; estates. Will'll .Ml' Mllssi'y reaches this point, liis revenue pleas lieeoiiic irrelevant and Il’S v.lloU' arwil|";'l*l. herrn»i<'li farcical. It is. indeed such :i flimsy arpnmeni that - "'OiiMr that ihe riiyln liononivilili' lii'iillvimm tried it, OV('l) Ml till' House of IJepieseiltiltives." Oiir Wellington coriespondoMt 'siippestod tlio otlior day it was tho financial needs of tlie (ioverninent that induced Mr Massey to grant a reliate of 10

per cent for prompt payment of land tax. but this was a very genernus view to take of the Prime Minister's action, and one, we think, not wholly justified by the circumstances. The Government is not so hardly pressed for money that it need give away 1:159,000 or £160.000 of revenue in order to secure the payment uf tile tax month or so earlier than otherwise would lie the case. Anyway Mr Alassev does not plead tile poverty of the Treasury as an excuse for the substantial relief lie is giving the big land holders. He claims, in fact that it is part and parcel iif the reduction of taxation he has promised. Tile worst feature of the concession is that while it will relieve the big men of a very substantial part of their Durden, it will help the small man scarcely at alt. In discussing this aspect of the question. tile "Post” is frank almost to the length of brutality. "From the point of view of helping the non-fiu-aneial,” it says, “the Bill does not apply: and as regards big estates that should b,. broken up. the Bill is a sop and a surrender of principle. In this resjicrt it might well be described as a Bill to Remind the Government’s Friends that* They are Still Tenderly Remembered.” We do not grudge the farmers any relief to which the v are fairly untitled and which the Government can afford to give them, but that the first* instalment of the promised rednotinn of taxation should be reserved for the leaders uf the big estates, which the Prime Al blister has professed himself anxious to break up. seems to us the strangest anomaly that has occurred in the public lit** of the Dominion for many a long year.