PUZZLES FOR VALUERS UNDER THE LAND TAX ACT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5465, 2 October 1878, Page 3

PUZZLES FOR VALUERS UNDER THE LAND TAX ACT.

Two farms, both are ploughed land in fallow. One has been ploughed, six times, and six white crops taken off it, manure having been put on the ground. The other has only just been cleared and ploughed for the first time. . One will produce say 40 bushels, tho other 14 bushels of oats to the acre. In the eye of the valuer they must be of the same value. Are both equally able to pay the same tax ? Again, a man has three acres of forest near his house. He chops down tbe timber and sells it as firewood. The valuer contends that tho land is improved because it will carry more stock, A purchaser would probably consider that a great injury had been done to the estate, and one that could not be remedied. Who is right ? A farmer has buildings, stock, aud fences all swept off by a fire. His neighbor suffers no such loss ; yet both are called upon and held to be equally able to bear the same tax. A monied man and a poor man buy land. Both are held equally able to pay land tax, although one dwells in a cabin and the other in a mansion. This attempt to upset the great principle that every man shall be taxed according to his ability to bear it will no doubt be all to the advantage of a man with money who can afford to improve his property. The settler of small means will have to pay equal land tax, and struggle on.