The Mortgage Tax.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 2, Issue 125, 5 September 1913, Page 1

The Mortgage Tax.

[TO THE EDITOR, j Sir,—l trust jou wifl allow ma space ti bring under the notice of the Reform Paitv aid the Farmers' j Union that the above tax is not j abolished yet. i Last flecticn t-he Reform Party | end the Farmers' Unicn, led by the | Pride Minister, made this a very turnirg ques : iun rndead. Tha Prime Minister cenounced it time aud again from the public platform as an indirect tax on the farmer, comIparirg it with the inccma tas and giving illustration. 1 need not repeat these as thev are well known, and the Reform Party followed suit. 1 have, in fact, eeee in the Pukekche streets Literals and Reformers nearly coming to fisticuffs over thi3 tax My own contention at the time was that the advances to settlers so safeguarded a-d fixed the rate of interest that it was impossible for the money-lender to indirectly escape the mortgage tax by incieasing the rate cf interest to th 3 borrowers. But we hava not that saleguard now, as the advances to settlers do not lend "money now on encumbered properties; they must be entirely free from mortgages. Now, I want to a;k the Reform Party, how ia it that this mortgage tax is net abolished ere this? They cannot reply that there have bean no opportunities. Last session we had En amending Lard and Inccma Assessment Tax Act, increasing the graduated tax. Thi3 session there has been another giving relief on incomes, but not cne word about the mortgage tax, and now especially when there 19 no protection frcm the Advances to Settlors Act.

Where I do think the moit:age ti:: is unfair n in i!m way: 'lake the case of a farmer with a farm vnlued at £3000; jay £IOOO unimproved vslje and £2OOO improvements. For taxation purprssa he gets an exemption oJ £SOO on his unimproved value and pays 500 pence taxation, or £2 Is 8d N on tha balar.ee of hi 3 unimproved value, a;.d lis £2OOO of improved value gees tree. Assjmkig, however, that he sills this farm f.r £3OOO, accepts, say, £3OO cash and leaves the balance on mortgage at 5 per cent, lie (hen pays mortgage tax on this balarca to the amount of £2700, three-1 farthings,, or £8 8s 3d. That is, £6 7h Id in excess of what he wss previously paying ori the same value. It is a weil-krown fact that «ha.t with £IOO,OOO taken from the Advances to Settlers office the usefulness of that Act wa3 destroyed c.s far as the settlers with a mortgage elsewhere was concerned. And the local bodies suffered through the £IOO,OOO taken frcm that department. Has the Farmers' Union ar.d the Reform Party given up looking after the in-teresta of tha farmirg community? Surely they are not going to degenerate into ei'chre parties and mutual admiration societies? Tl.e farmers' interests require looking after es much today ard more than they did two years ago. —1 am, et\, J. W. McLARIN.