CORRESPONDENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 March 1924, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

TAXATION COXTROYERSY. (To the Editor). Sir.—The controversy upon taxation has created so much interest that 1. crave space for tt. few observations. As :t preliminary, can any of. yottt readers explain why the Premier, who is the author of tlie presenL system ol taxation, now said to Ik* equitable, should accuse Iris critics of promoting class antagonism when lie himself is responsible for the Act which is being criticised? If the tax itself hears less harshly upon one class than upon another, surely the author of the tax must accept the responsibility rather than tho critic who is able to point out the mistake. But let this pass.

Enough has been said to show that lie whole system of taxation has be,tne out of date and inequitable, and i,at it should be drastically overhaul-

Afany of my friends are farmers who. eing mortgaged, make no taxable inutile tit all; and consequently the reinval of the tax liability does not (feet them, but presumably they arc ialtle for land tax. Now why should man who makes no income out of Ins and be called upon to pay any tax? This seems to me that the avenue ot •scape from the present muddle lies in crapping the Land Tax altogether, mil retaining the Income Tax alone. Thus each person would pay accnrd„g to his means, and the present anonalies to which others have called at.tuition would disappear. ] anticipate by two answers the usual objection that the removal of the I and Tax would promote aggregation.

Firstly the Land Tax has not prevented aggregation, and secondly the *Siate can always resume tlie land bv taking it away from anyone who has too much and giving it to others who have too little. If the bind is not wanted lor such closer settlement, why should not the aggregator work it. So far from harming anyone he is benefiting the State by wringing an income I rum land that no one else wants, anil in the meantime he is paying tax upon the income derived from the unwanted bind.

The administrative difficulty attending the collection of an enlarged Income Tax lias been raised its: a bogey, but it has I ►eon met elsewhere, and therefore can be met here. Some of my friends are "icli farmers who are making very large incomes upon which they pay no tax, and they make it clear to me that they have no fault to find with the present system. This at least, one can understand. Yours, etc., FRESH START,