The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 481, 3 December 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1879.

For j’sars past the people of New Zealand have enjoyed the distinction of paying for more in taxation than any other people on the face of the earth. It now seems probable that their lead in this matter will be so greatly increased that there will be no worthy second found. In considering the tremendous proposals of the Government, the first question that arises is : Are they necessary? That there will be a lingo deficit at the end of the present financial year if no steps are taken to prevent it, has been clearly proved. But is it essential to good financing to wipe out the whole of that deficit in a single year, and at the same time to secure a surplus which the Treasurer admits will exceed £70,000, and which a leading journal declares will exceed £400.000 ? The deficit to be covered is considerably over two pound per head of the population. Now, if a proportionate deficit should occur in the United Kingdom, would any same person dream of covering it in eight months by extra taxation ? No doubt the country would bo able to pay the extra sixty or seventy millions, but would it be wise on the part of any Government to require the thing to be done ? It is quite certain that this supposed deficit would bo distributed, as smaller deficits now are, over a number of years, so that the taxpayer would be almost unconscious that any extra burden was imposed upon him. We are of opinion that this would have been the correct policy for the Government ot the colony to pursue in the present conjuncture. Nothing will so readily make an administration unpopular ns the imposition of heavy taxes. Those who hailed the fall of Sir George Grey as an event likely to relieve them of the hated Land Tax, will think that they have exchanged King Log tor King Stork. The Government must not suppose that the odium will fall upon their predecessors. They may have had something to do with the present unfortunate financial position, but the Treasurer has clearly and candidly told the colony that the deficit is owing to the falling off of the Land Fund, which was due to the tightness of the money market all over (he world. The worst that can be said of the Grey Government in this connection is, that they remitted easily-born, taxes to the extent of £Bs,ooth that they were extravagant in the Native Department to the extent of £25,000 more, and that they did not fully explain to the colony the financial position. But even if the whole of the mischief could be fairly laid at their door, the vast body of the population would blame and hate those who imposed the taxes, and long for tlie return of the good times when those who rendered the taxation necessary were in power. There is another view of the matter, namely—the effect that the present tariff will have on the public creditor. We who have borrowed so much cannot afford to overlook him and his opinions. Will he not take alarm at the tremendous increase of taxation contemplated, and imagine that the colony is just awaking to a sense of its position, and putting forth an effort that will have to be repeated and increased year after year in order to make ends meet? It is quite true that in some instances the public creditor may take quite another view', and take the present action of the Government as a proof of the elasticity of onr resources, and of our honest determination to pay our way. But the fact remains that many will be alarmed to hoar of this already heavily taxed colony doubling its taxes “ at one fell swoop.” It is possible that the action of the Government is really necessary, and that they are only obeying the stern call of duty ; but, be that as it may, we are decidedly of opinion that the Ministry have struck a death blow at their own popularity in the country by their financial proposals. Some of the new duties proposed are of a purely Protective character. For example, the duty on timber is simply prohibitory. Scarcely any revenue will be collected from timber, because very little will be sent to tho colony. Wc

hnvr> on several occasions expressed onr disapproval of Protective duties, and we venture to say that no time could be less opportune for their imposition than the present. When the taxpayer has so many other extra calls to meet, why should the opportunity be given to the mill owner to screw an extra shilling per hundred Out of him? This Protective duty comes hack on the householder in at least two ways. First, his house costs him more ; anil second, lie will have to pay Property Tax upon a larger amount. The Property Tax, although an admirable one for raising money, and, under fair valuation, for distributing the burden of taxation according to ability to pay, will probably be intensely unpopular. We are not so weak as to suppose that any other tax exacting the same amount from the same pockets would he favourably received, but we are of opinion that much hardship and injustice will be caused by this tax, and much tyranny and favoritism shelter themselves under it. We would like to instance a few of the things that appear to us to point in the direction wo indicate. The tax will fall very heavily on small farmers. Any man who has enough real estate to live on must have far beyond £3OO worth, and will have to be a considerable contributor to the Property Tax. His contribution will be to him the difference, between enough and too little. To a man in struggling circumstances, a few pounds is enough to determine whether lie will sink or swim, and we fear that tin's tax will enormously increase the difficulties of a worthy and useful class of men whom the colony should encourage. The tradespeople of the colony will be taxed in a double proportion. The tax upon the Banks will probably cause a rise in rates of interest and discount, which will press severely on our business men. They will also have to pay the tax upon all the credit they give, much of which may never bo realised capital. But what is more hard to bear than all the rest is, that they will have to make certain Commissioners their confessors in all the details and secrets of their monetary position. There is no guarantee given that among these Commissioners there will not be an enemy, or a rival in some commercial scheme, or the friend of some such enemy or rival. What greater hardship, then, can be imagined than for the man of business to bo compelled to make n clean breast of it to such a Confessor? Of course the Confessor is bound by oath, and he is an honorable man— ‘ they are all honorable men’—and our man of business has not lost all faith in human nature; but somehow he would rather pay another half-penny in the pound than confess, and we entirely sympathise with him. The scope given to favoritism and potty persecution is also far too great. No one needs to bo told that many men will place absurdly low values on their property when it is not for sale. Many cases will arise in which the Commissioners will have a clear right to object to the valuation of an owner. But will they always do it, and do it fairly ? Will none be bullied without cause, and none be allowed to pass from considerations other than that of the public good ? Wo fear that a very short trial would suffice to make the Property Tax an odious by-word in New Zealand, and while we sympathise with the Government and the country in the present crisis, we venture to hope that, some less objectionable way will be found out of the difficulty.