THE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT BILL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5837, 13 December 1879, Page 3

THE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT BILL.

——— The Bill, as r.-ported irom the committee of the whole Hons-;, is now pro,'-;:!. The first of the alterations is -virli resin-cl to trie amount of property liable to i;..ri >:i from exceeding £.109 ro exceeding A new clau-e in re-f'-fence to companies lias been inserted instead of tnt: original one, 11 is as follows : —“Every c inq.uuy shall be liable to taxation on its <: '.pit;-.', and not any further under this Act in respect of its property. For the purposes of this Act the capita! of a company shall be taken to be—The balance of the assets over the liabilities of a company, as appea ; _ r in the statement of its property required by Ibis Act; but iu estimating the liabilities of a company the amounts received in respect of shares issued Khali not he reckoned as liabilities. The assets of the c unpauy shall be taken to be the marketable vidue of the property of the company, and shall not include unpaid up capital. The following new clauses have been inserted: — 15. Any company carrying on the business of advancing money on loan within the colony, but the principal office whereof is beyond the same, shall, upon proof given to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the actual amount of its paid-up capital and of the amount of its accumulated undivided profits employed within

Uie coi'juv, he thereon, instead of liabilities. 16. Every insurance compan y cvrjing on business within the colony shall be liable to taxation in respect of all fire, marine, or guanuite policies at any time issued by the company, and shall he chargeable by way of tax with a sum to be calculated upon a certain rata per centum upon the total amount of premiums received in each year in respect of the aforesaid policies after deducting the total amount of premiums actually paid by the compuny in the same year in respect of the leinsurance of any risk covered by the said policies. Joint trustees are to be assessed jointly, but each shall be held liable for properly furnishing statements of the property belli in trust, and the Commissioner or his deputy shall have the like remedies against properties vested or controlled by an agent or trustee as he would against the property of an individual. Partners in trade or commerce, carried on by two or more persons, are to be jointly assessed ; but the assessment must be kept separate from the individual one, and shall be subject to the ordinary deductions. The mortgagor of laud shall be liable to taxation only on the differences between the whole value of the land mortgaged and the am-emt of the money advanced on mortgage of the i md : Provided that in every such case the mortgagor shall append to the statement of the property belonging to him the on-aes and addresses of the respective innrtgigces. Every mortgagee of land shall, in his st -lenient of property, give full particulars of all nimn-vs advanced by him on mortgage of lui I, giving descriptions of such land snffi -is dto i afy its situation, and the names oi the m rig ,curs of such land respectively. Kc-o snob n.ortgagee, not exempted as herein p • •vi-l-.i ui respect of companies, shall be lia-iit- t • taxation on the value of his mortgage, su j.;cn to the ordinary deductions. With respect to the making of assessments, the foM.ov.oo has been added to clause 32, or clan.-.e 27, as first printed :—“ And the estimated value of all property or interests in property included in such statements shall be tho sum it might be expected to bring if offered at public auction for cash.” Where it shall appear to the Commissioner that any company carrying on business within the colony, but the principal office of which is situated elsewhere, cannot furnish an accurate statement of the actual amount of the capital employed within the colony, he may agree with the public officer what shall be the amount of capital liable to be assessed. The following new clauses were added at the end of the Bill : “97. The Land Tax Act, 1878, is hereby repealed : Provided that this repeal shall not affect the past operation of the Act hereby repealed, or the sufficiency or insufficiency, validity or invalidity, of anything done or suffered, or the payment or recovery of any duty or land tax which may have or may hereafter become payable to her Majesty under the said Act ; nor shall this repeal interfere with the institution or prosecution of any proceeding in respect of any offence committed, or the recovery of any pen alty or forfeiture incurred, against or under the said Act.” “98. This Act, with the exception of section 97 of this Act, shall come into operation on the day on which it is assented to by the Governor in the name and on behalf of her Majesty, and section 97 of this Act shall come into operation on such day as the Governor shall, by proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette, declare.” As we gave a lengthy summary of the Bill when first printed, we have now only indicated the principal alterations and additions which have been made in committee. The main features of the measurer remain untouched, notwithstanding all the virtuous indignation of Mr. Smut, and the threats of the “ Young New Zealand Party,” and its organs in the Press, to the contrary. Since the above was in type, we find that the Bill was again recommitted, for the purpose of making some alterations. In clause 12—All property within the colony to which any person is entitled shall be liable to taxation in respect of so much of the vaiue thereof as shall exceed five hundred pounds sterling, but subject to the exemptions and to the deductions hereinafter provided the words “to which any person is entitled " have been omitted, and “of which any person is owner” substituted. In clause 16

which will be found inserted above—the| following words have been added thereto : “ And no such insurance company shall be liable to taxation under this Act in any further respect.” To clause 24—The interest of every person in any property shall bo separately assessed, and every such person shall be liable to taxation in respect of the value of hia interest in such property : provided that in respect of land held in any tenancy exceeding a yearly tenancy, the interest of the owner of such land shall be estimated at a sum equal to an amount of fourteen times the annual rental received by the owner in respect of such land —the following proviso has been added : “ And the interest of any occupier of such land shall be estimated at the sum such interest might be expected to bring, if offered at public auction for cash.” To clause 26--i'- I iti-e to property exempt from taxation—the w u-ds “all vessels of every hind,” an 1 “ .1; •. .1 .ties of life assurance,” have been • d I I fire latter part of clause 77—“v>i sici f v, together with such addition, k; v •. ..so- ■ ,ble in any Court of competent j" in i the Deputy Commissioner, as a d -bt i n- • ■ h rr ” —the words after Commits! ■nor h,v ; oeen omitted, and “on behalf of tin- O .. vn, by suit in his own name,” suasft ute 1 instead. A few other minor alterations h ive also been made.