THE TAXATION QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 30

THE TAXATION QUESTION.

STATEMENT BY MR MASSEY< REPLY TO~DR FINDLAY (Faaii Oto Ovfvr Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, August 13. 3"h© Leader of the Opnpsition does not ' Believe that Dr Findlay, in his new capacity as spokesnr&fl and special pleader for .the Government, is taken very seriously by the public. In an interview MavMasseyeaid : — "The Attorney-general says I blun-Sder-jd in criticising his Timaru speech.' [Nothing of the sort! ' Dr .Findlay at iTimaru tried to leave the impression that |tbe present Govarnment "had reduced taxajtnon, and I corrected that impression by jpointing out from its own figures that taxation had very greatly increased. _ during the time of the present AdministraItion, that it was still increasing, and that IDr Findlay 's mission appeared to be to prepare the public for a further increase pn Socialistic lines, so much so as to quite take the wind out of Mr Hogg's sails. For Instance, Dr Findlay said i ' Indeed, there teems i«o reason why, after a certain de* J eree of remoteness, the claim of the State I ■should not prevail over that of absentee relatives.' I don't exactly know what Dr iFindlay means by a certain degree of remoteness, and he had taken care not to explain. Dr Findlay said that he (Mr 'Massey) had stated that if you take from the wealthy by taxation you necessarily reduce the fund they devote to wages. I '

paid nothing of the sort. J was dealing with *the proposal to increase the land tax, and I said, in effect, that if you call upon the settler to pay more thai his fair share of taxation, you "reduce his financial ability to make improvements, and so the worker suffers, and I stand by that statement. Then, in dealing with land settlement, Dr Findlay says . ' Denmark effected its remarkable subdivision of estates by the progressive land tax. That statement is imsjeading. As a matter of fact, the land tax in Denmark is small compared with the land tax in New Zealand, but the Danish - Government has fir many years past doric everything possible to encourage subdivision and absolute security of tenure, lending money at a vjry low rate of interest, and sometimes without interest, for a term to enable small farmers to purchase the freehold of itheir holdings. The Danish Government is up-to-date with its land Jaws, but the New Zealand' Government is 50 years behind tihe times in land legislation, as in many other matters, but if the progressive land tax is such a very good thing in the opinion of Dr Findlay and his colleagues, why do they not apply , it to Nati\9 lands » | { Do you think that, apart from the money | ' required for the battleships the Government will propose to increase taxation? Mr Massey was asked. "I do, most oertainly. All the indications go in that direction. The gospel that Dr Findlay is preaching is the gospel of taxation, but anyone who looks at the public accounts for the June Quarter will

see that the financial position is very far from satisfactory, and that a great deal more is required than tbe efforts at retrenchment that the Government is making. Had the difficulty been faced in time it would have been very much easier to deal with now, but the Government would never admit that it was drifting into financial trouble until after the elections, and then it was too late to take the steps that should have been taken months before. An increase of taxation during the coming session may improve matters from the point of view of the Government, but from the country's point of- view the -effect will be bad, and it should, therefore, be avoided if possible."