TAX BILLS PASSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 808, 31 October 1929, Page 6

TAX BILLS PASSED

DISCUSSION IN COUNCIL CRITICISM OF POLICY Press Association WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The debate on the Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill was resumed in the Legislative Council today. The Hon. R. Scott expressed regret that the measure had come down in its present form. Farmers had been promised cheap money and no increased taxation and the Bill was rather a shock to them. The Hon. E. Newman regretted it should have been deemed necessary to bring down the present pi-oposals. The weak point was the absence of land classification to avoid injustice to a man whose land was unsuitable for subdivision. The Hon. T. S. Weston said the large landowners were already contributing their fair share of taxation. The Bill did not redound to the Government’s credit. The fact that the hardship clause was necessary condemned the Bill. The Hon. G. J. Garland also advocated a fair deal for all, and said the Bill did not give it. The Hon. J. Craigie favoured increased taxation as a means of breaking up estates, and he supported the measure on general lines. Sir Francis Bell maintained that powers were already existent to enable estates to be broken up without taxing men off their land. Replying to the discussion, the Leader of the Council, the Hon. T. K. Sidey, justified the Government’s proposals and said that the mortgage exemption provision did not go far enough: it was on too liberal a scale. The Bill contained no new principle in respect of super taxation. He admitted that it was a pity a commission had not been set up to determine what lands were suitable for subdivision. The Bill was passed with a minor technical amendment. The Land aud Income Tax (annual) Bill was also passed.