RATING SYSTEMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1050, 14 August 1930, Page 11

RATING SYSTEMS

DIFFICULTIES TO BE MET POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION •Rating on unimproved values may have* detinite advantages in district* which are progressing, or where specu lation is so widespread that land re Quired for building purposes is being held back, especially if this is so extensive as substantially to increase rents.” said Mr. W. 11. Cocker, in an address to the Auckland branch of th» Economic Society last evening, dealing with the problem of local body rating, with particular reference to unimproved and capital values. Mr. Cocker said it was not possible to dogmatise, but when once the tax was established, the unimproved value might be fairer. However, there were qualifications, for a person who had a garden or an open space was penallsc«- If there was much land which could not be used for building purposes there would probably be an injustice. The system, he said, had greater advantages in the early stages of a country’s development, its value becoming more problematical as the country became more settled. The possible injustice involved in a change-over was so great that precautions; were necessary, both in deciding on the change and in relieving the anomalies if a change were made The system could not be fairly judged by the results of unimproved rating in Takapuna and Mount Albert, Mr Cocker continued. The change therr* had been made in a dull period, and had added to the depression. Building sections and houses surrounded b' large areas had fallen greatly in value. Quietness in the market for building sections. which changed hands the most, had led to a general feeling of depression which had extended to all properties.