THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1910. FARMERS AND TAXATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10103, 26 September 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1910. FARMERS AND TAXATION.

The farmers, as a class, are the easily satisfied of all the branches of industrial life in New {Zealand. They take whatever is provided for them by a .beneficent and all-wise Legislatiire with an equanimity which is quite rert&rkable/ They" seenrto-'be so ■ much engrossed in the affairs of the'farm that they have not time to think how they are being exploited for the maintenance of an extravagant system" of Government. If it is a penny on. a pound of wool, or a farthing on butter, or something in r considerable on cereals, they will have it to the last fraction. But, while they are sanguine enough about their.profits, they are all too careless and lethargic when it comes to losses. If they could only be brought to realise how much they are losing by the .gross maladministration of public affairs. If .they could be seized of the fact that the value of their output is being depreciated, while, the cost of living and production is being annually increased. If they would reflect upon the possibilities of the lean years and upon the encroachments which .are being made upon "r liberties by an organised party - aggressive Socialists. If ,they c . i realise these tilings they would shake off their apathy and display greater concern for their own welfare. How many of them know that they .are being systematically exploited in the way ■of taxation ? How many of them care? Does it ever strike a farmer that he is being unfairly , treated in the matter of the land tax ? Let them analyse the question. They are called upon to pay a land tax on i every pound of value they possess in land over £SOO. They have no £3OO exemption like the merchant, the lawyer, the professional man. Their exemption, nf it were to equal that of the . towhr. dweller, would be £6OOO in value. Instead of that, it is only £SOO. A lot of people are under the impression that the £SOO exemption" is an income exemption. It is nothing of the sort. .The exemption of £SOO in valu eonly means £25 in income, reckoning it at. 5 per cent. Is it fair that the city merchant should

be exempted up to £3OO, and the | 'farmer to only £25? This is a ques- I

tion which is of vital concern to the man upon the land. It is" only one of numerous methods employed, to. extract revenue from those engaged in rural pursuits. And so long as the fanner remains quiescent, so long as he opens his mouth and shuts his eyes to take his taxation gruel, so long will he he victimised. ;';!•.■:■,..■