UNKNOWN

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 605, 24 September 1913, Page 2

UNKNOWN

HSir. —With your kind psi'mission 1 j ■ftuld like, to say a tew words in repiv i £o Mr A. E, Robinson's letter in a re- ! cent issue. To begin with he Bay?. ; "The attitude taken up by the las I. I speaker at the meeting convened by j the Ratepayers' Association " way [ no reasons have b;en adduced why j we snouid noc mai<e aonange; iPsre- i fore, let us make it.'" ! think this > may be taken, ts a fair sample of too j tactics of those who are opposing the ; rating on the unimproved value, i'-ir j Robinson's statement is partly cor- j rect, just correct enough to sound all , right, but I hope to show that it may j be classed with the great army of , truths, which are in many cases worse | than pure untruths. The position j really taken up by the last speaker ! was rating on the unimproved vaJuswas j admitted to be more just in principle i and preferable to rating on the capital value even by Ihose who are opposing it in Te Kuiti, their contention being that "special circumstances" make it advisable to adopt that system in this particular case. Presumably they refer to the relatively large amount of leasehold in this borough. The opposition having failed, so far, to adduce any reason why we should not make a change—that is, having failed to show how the leasehold or other '""special circumstances" make any difference whatever in the principle—and it being admittedly the better system in general "therefore let us adopt it " Mr Robinson asks that the ratepayers should ba well assured "that any hardship entailed on any owners in making the charge will be fully justified by equivalent advantages to the community. Well, let us take a case. A, B, C, D, and E each | own a flection where there is not much of a road and no -footpath. Call the sections leasehold if you choose, and say the unimproved value is £IOO each. E, who is farthest out, builds a house value £SOO, while A, B, C, and D simply hang on. Of course they all want a good road and footpath, and in due course get them, for which they have to pay rates, say, as in Te Kuiti last year, ljd on special loans, and ljd general rate; total 2£d per £ on the capital value. A, B, C, and D each pay on £100: that is, £1 2s lid each: total for the four £4 lis Bd, while E pays on £6OO, or £6 17s 6d; £2 5s lOd more than all the others put together, or six times as much as any of the others, each of whom i 9 now ready to sell out at a handsome profit, because of the nice road and footpath, not +o mention electric light, water, etc., etc. Now, there would be little objection to A, E, C, and D making some profit if they contributed their fair share to the cost of the road, footpath, etc.: that is, if the rating was on the unimproved value, in which case they would all. including E, have to pay the same total, namely, £ll 9a 2d, but it would be collected equally, each paying 6d in tha £ on £loo—£2 10s or a total of £l2 10s, which would leave the Council a balance of £1 lOd to donate to the funds of the Ratepayers' and Citizens' Association, or any other worthy object. Naturally, in this illustration, A, B. C, and D would not care to vote in favour of rating on the unimproved value. Let us now assume that A, instead of speculating like B, C, and D f is a comparatively poor man trying to secure a home for himself, buc is as yet unable to build. Rated on the capital value he woud pay, like B, C, and D, only £1 2s lid, but suppose in a year's time he manages to build a house worth £3OO, he would then be rated on £4oo—£4 lis 8d every year. While rated on the unimproved value he would have to pay £2 10s the first year, but after he built, his rate would still remain the same, namely, £2 10s instead of being raised to £4 lis Bd, so that though he would have to pay £1 7s Id more the first year he would save £2 Is 8d every year thereafter as long as the rating was on the unimproved value. It simply means: Whether it is desirable to encourage men like A and E, who live in a town and do something to improve it, or to penalise them and encourage B, C, and D, who simDly take a profit out of the town. Mr Robinson, when he deals with the business portion of the town and tries to show that "the only man who will benefit ia the landlord" is, I think, again mistaken. He aaya "many of the more valuable premises are let on long leases. The rents are fixed " He is evidently assuming that the landlord would pay less rates, and still draw the same rents, overlooking the fact that where premises are let on long leases at fixed rents the tenant, not the landlord, is liable for all ■ rates uniass there is a special agreement to the contrary. As for his fears ci'a glut in the market bringing the price of sections down with a rim. Well, thai, would be a 'special circumstance" with a vengeance. It has not happened in any other of the 80 or i)(i districts which have adopted the unimproved value system, and though the tendency would probably be to check for a short time the rapid advance which has been taking place there is so much talk now of "inflated values" that that is by no means an undesirable feature of trie system. The figures of 'he no revaluation of the Borough are: Capital ratable va'ue £32*1,:;20, unimproved ratable value 1T75,2-17. This means that, ikl in the £ on the capital value would yield £2027, while 3d in the X on the unimproved value would yield £2liM). There was neither a fighting nor a sewerage rate struck last year, but 'sssumine that it is necessary to raise £SOO (thai is •"> per cent, on sewerage .23000, and light £7000), thai must in any r case be struck on the capital value being really payment for services rendered. That, acided to the X2VJO mentioned above, given £2OOO or very nearly the same amount as was raised last year, viz., 2j : ti in the X on a capital value of £2.'.7,-J-U- -£2720. Isi Te Kuiti the capital value being roughly uouble the unimproved value, to the owner or lessee whose unimproved value is equal

to the value oC his improvements, there will be no appreciable difference, while to him whose imprnvfiiiei;!? are greater than the unimproved value of. his section, or sections, iiy t!:e Ka::;e proportion his rats? will he ioss liiuic" the system of rating mi 'lie unimproved vakte. I tea:, sir, I h:iv>- ticrpassrrl eonsiierably 0:1 year space, hut trust the importance uf the miration is saflicient justilieatio.i, ~-I am etc.. V. t?. DI"\"GAN : .SON. P.S.---Complete tables have been prepared showing the rmermi <d rates nn the new valuation which will be payable under Urn eapiml value .and under the iiiiimprovod value systems, ranging from I'lnn in 'jg'.OOO valuation? and showing tin? rates on unimproved sections, and m: totally unimproveri sections. I will be pleased to show these to anyone interested, or thr-y may be seen at th° railway refreshment rooms.' —F.S.D.