Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5566, 30 January 1879, Page 2

Thai' the Land Tax Department would not prove equal to the task before it was more than suspected when Parliament passed the measure which called it into existence, yet we doubt whether any one thought it possible that a set of men specially selected for initiating a new system of taxation could have got into such an extraordinary mess as that in which Mr. Ballance and his assistants no w both apparently find themselves, The pet scheme of the Premier, the Land Tax Act, being in more senses than one a “ skeleton,” it became the duty of the department to exercise its ingenuity in order to clothe it with life and fit it for motion. The result is now pretty clearly before us. The system adopted was to appoint several hundred valuators, supply them with lists of county or highway board ratepayers and with forms to distribute among those whose names appeared therein, and then to allow them to proceed pretty much according to their own interpretation of the Act. The forms mentioned are in themselves a real curiosity, and have the appearance of having been made as intricate as possible in order to look formidable and imposing. To nine men out of every ten the schedules are what Lord Dundreary would call a “ widdle,” which they are obliged either to guess at or to give up. The result shows what should have been foreseen, that only part of the information, namely, that already obtained from rate-rolls, is reliable, and that the valuers will of necessity have to satisfy themselves of the correctness of the remainder by personal inspection or from knowledge previously obtained. The work of sending out the forms and afterwards wading through them appears therefore to be quite useless ; at the same time it will have to be paid for. If we look at the various methods, so far as known, which the valuers have adopted, the bungles of the department will appear in a still more glaring light. In some cases, we learn, they proceed after the manner of children at blind-man’s-buff, without having any particular line to follow, while here and there is found a valuer who says, “ I set the value of the laud in this district down at so much per acre, irrespective of improvements.” Others, it is said, divide their districts into several parts, and value according to quality of soil or situation. The latter plan seems least open to objection, and had it been adopted by the department it might have saved all the trouble of valuing improvements ; but at present it only adds to the charm of variety which marks the system. As regards the cost of the valuation the muddle is equally great. There is ground for believing that one valuer for each county or municipality might have proved quite sufficient; for, as a matter of fact, the valuators for all local bodies have, in fulfilling their duties, to fix the value of improvements in order to arrive at a correct conclusion ; the task of the land tax valuator therefore differs only in this, that he has to keep a separate account of the value of improvements, with a view to their exemption from the tax. One instance will serve to illustrate the manner iu which money is being squandered. The local board district of Featberston comprises a considerable number of small holdings, the great majority of which will prove too low in value to pay tax. The whole district may yield a halfyearly revenue of £5 or £6 ; yet it has a valuer all to itself, who, it is said, gets £lO for the job. We have said sufficient to show that the administration of the Land Tax Department must be condemned as unskilful, even after making every allowance for the bad foundation upon which the officers have to work. Tho subject will, iu all probability, receive a considerable amount of attention duriug the approaching session of Parliament, when those who are responsible for the present state of confusion are sure to receive an appropriate testimonial.