Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1909. FAIR TAXATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4451, 19 August 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1909. FAIR TAXATION.

Ihii above all—to thine own self be true, And %t mutt follow at the night the day Thou cantt not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

New Zealand has earned the unenviable reputation of “ The Great Loan Land,” and although our national public indebtedness is the immense sum of nearly seventy millions sterling, to say nothing of about twelve millions due by local bodies, we do not take pessimistic view of things. A good deal of the public money has been sunk in remunerative works and loans to settlers. We go even further and say that a reasonable additional amount of borrowing is not only desirable but very necessary. The proof is easy. There is a time in a business concern’s affairs when, unless it will borrow and invest more capital, it will not render effective and profitable what has already been sunk in the business. It is just so with New Zealand. We have borrowed a large sum, it is true; but to shrink now and stop borrowing would be an insane policy, because it requires more money to make our past expenditure really effective. Railways have to be extended, new roads opened up in fertile tracts of virgin land and nearer to some old and prosperous settlements, rivers have to be bridged, and civilised conveniences carried wider afield. Such expenditure will amply repay New Zealanders. Of course, honesty and discretion must be exercised in public expenditure, and with a vigilent press and a patriotic interest taken in public affairs the Dominion will, no doubt, get its money’s worth. It will. be the people’s fault if it does not.

But we cannot have the piper without paying for him. If every new small settlement will have its own policeman, post and telegraph office and such things, the country must pay for them. That is pretty well understood ; but we do not like to see a prevalent disposition to make the other fellow pay more than his fair share. Fair and just taxation is necessary. Adam Smith, the father of political economy in his great epoch-making book, “The Wealth of Nations,” laid down four principles of equitable taxation which have never yet been refuted. His contention was for equality, economy, certainty, and convenience. If the civilised world had more strictly adhered to those four canons of taxation, the people’s progress and genuine welfare would have been better to-day. Take the canon of equality, A doctor, lawyer, or other professional man, earning £1,500 a year net income, ic not so well able to pay taxation oil that sum as a capitalist is who gets £ISQQ on a first-class mortgage security or on Govern ment debentures. When the pro* fessional man dies his income ceases and, unless he has saved money in a life policy his family fares badly ; but if the mortgagee dies, the interest on the mortgage goes on night and day and the bereaved family’s income is, not diminished. The incidence of taxation on the mortgagee and professional man, therefore, ought not to be the same. Every man should pay according to his ability, and it stands •to reason that the man whose income depends on his toil, health, and strength, has a more precarious income than the mortgagee, who need not toil or spin or do a hand’s turn except to give a receipt for his interest. As for the canon of economy, the taxes of a country ought to be collected as cheaply as possible, so that every available penny wrung from the taxpayer should be put to profitable and beneficial use in the nation. Hence it follows that unnecessary officials, or misspent public money become a needless burden having to be borne, and it is also seen that to boast of surpluses is to boast of having taken more out of the taxpayers pockets than was required. That is not economy. Much could be said on certainty and convenience. Suffice it to say that it always injures a country when there is uncertainty as to how much in taxation the people have to pay. It has ruined eastern countries like Turkey and Persia. In New Zealand we must set our faces i against any infringement of these' rules, and it is the duty of our legislators to see that the taxes are levied in a way that is most convenient for the people and that is fair and just to all. Pair play is a jewel of great price. Single-taxers want to make all taxation, one sole, only tax to fall on land-values. That would be most

unjusl and injurious to the Dominion The laud tax last year was £537,846,

and while we can wield ia pen we shall demand that land bears its fair share of the burden and that monied men, who have made fortunes in speculations or in business, and now live on interest, shall bear their fair share also.