LAND TAX REBATE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2353, 10 November 1921, Page 2

LAND TAX REBATE.

The L an d Tax Amendment Bill, granting a 10 per cent, rebate to payers of land tax who pay before the 28th instant, was passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday night.

Speaking in support of the Bill, Mr E. Newman (Mamuvatu) assured the House that land taxation was class taxation. It had to be paid whether the owner of the land was making money or not. The taxation of the income from land would be. much fairer than the taxation of the land. He thought that much of the unemployment difficulty could he avoided if men would go into the hack country, where good wages were being earned at scrubcutting, fencing, and bush-felling. Some work of that, kind was available, but it was quite true that many of the farmers were in a very difficult position. Talk of the increase in unimproved values was idle under existing conditions. The values existed on paper only, and the land was not saleable at any price, while it was not producing any revenue. Much of the land of the Dominion was broken sheep and cattle country, which could not be settled in very small areas. Large landowners were not necessarily wealthy landowners.”