ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 980, 10 June 1879, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

LAND TAX. TO THE EDITOR OF THE OAMARU MAIL. Sip.,—May I ask a few questions upon the above important subject 1 Is it in' accord with the -'practice of older countries (not geologically, but politically older) that Government should re-enter upon estates committed to Boroughs or Municipalities, and, as it were, cut the ground ■ from under their feet by levying a land tax within their limits 1 If so, I think we should have heard the term colossal applied to such a power at Home. Gladstone, I think,' spoke of the colossal power (for revenue purposes) of the income tax. If Parliament could tax the superficial areas of all the boroughs in Great Britain under a land tax, surely the income tax and the term " colossal" would have to give way to inconceivably grander figures and terms, and the national debt would probably be wiped off by a stroke of the pen. Again, I wish to ask, was not the Land Tax conceived for the purpose of catching large land owners, those (to use high language) who are enjoying the "unearned increment "of their broad acres 1 If so, would it not have fulfilled its work by drawing its line, say, at 100 acres outside of boroughs 1 If this law is continued, will it not undermine the finances of Municipalities (already difficult of arrangement), and unfairly affect the value of town properties, dragging down the development of our centres of population 1 It may be very ignorant to ask such questions, but I will make my apology by signing myself.—Yours, etc., An Enqtjieeii.