THE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 347, 23 December 1879, Page 2

THE PROPERTY ASSESSMENT BILL.

Prom the N. Z. Times.

The Bill, as reported from the comn tee of the wholo House. is now print, ■Uio ni'st of the alterations is with respt to the amount of property liable to tax, jon from exceeding £3OO to exceedin . llew clause in reference to com panics has been inserted instead of the original one. It is as follows :-•« Everv company shall be liable to taxation on its capital, and not any further under this Act 111 respect of its property, Jo r the purposes of this Act the capital of a company shall lie taken to bo—The balance of the assets ovor the liabilities of a company as appearing in the statement of its property required by this Act; but in estiI mating the liabilities of a company the amounts received in respect of shares issued shall'not be reckoned as liabilities, The assets of the company shall be taken to be the marketable value of the property o , company, and shall not include unpaid up capital, The following new clauses have been inserted 15. Any company carrying on the business of advancing money on loan within the colony, but the principal office whereof is beyond the same, shall, upon proof given to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the actual amount of its paid-up capital and of the amount of its accumulated undivided profits employed within the colony be assessed thereon, instead of being assessed on the balance of its assets ovci liabilities, 10. Every insurance company carrying on business within the colonj shall be liable to taxation in respect of all fire, marine, or guarantee policies at anv time issued by the company, and shall bt chargeable by way of tax with a sum tc be calculated upon a certain rate pet centum upon the total amount of pre miums received in each year in resoect ol the aforesaid policies, after deducting th< total amount of premiums actually paid bi the company in the same year in respeel oi the re-insurance of any risk covered bv the said policies, Joint trustees are to bt assessed jointly, but each shall be hell liab e for properly furnishing statement! of the property held in trust, and till Commissioner or his deputy shall have th< like remedies against properties vested o: controlled by an agent or trustee as hi would against the property of an indi vidual Partners in trade or commerce carried on by two or more persons, are t( e jointly assessed j but the assessmeti must be kept separate from the individua one, and shall be subject to the ordinar deductions. The mortgagor of land slial" be liable to taxation only on the differ ences between the whole value of the lam mortgaged and the amount of the mow advanced on mortgage of the land: Pro viaed that in every such case the mort gagor shall append to the statement o the property belonging to him the name; and addresses of the respective mortsta fjees. Every mortgage of land shall,' n liis statement ;>f property, give full par ticnlars of all moneys advanced by- bin 3n mortgage of land, giving description rf such land sufficient to identify its situr

tion, and the names of the mortgagors of such land respectively. Every such mortgagee, not exompted as herein provided in respect of companies, shall be liable to taxation on the value of his mortgage, subject to the ordinary deductions. With respect to the making of assessments, the following lias been added to clause 32, or clause 27 as first printed And the estimated value of all property included in auch statements shall be the sum it might be expected to bring if offered at public auction for cash." Where it shall appear to the Commissioner that any company carrying on business within the Colony, but the principal office of which is situated elsewhere cannot furnish an accurate statement of the capital employed within the colony, he may agree with the public officer what shall be the amount of the capital liable to be assessed. The following new clauses were added at the end 1878, is hereby repealed: Provided that this repeal shall not affect the past operation of the Act hereby repealed, or the sufficiency or insufficiency, validity, or invalidity of anything done or suffered, or the payment or recovery of.any duty or land tax which may have or may hereafter become payable to Her Majesty under the said Act; nor shall this repeal interfere with the institution or prosecution' of any proceeding in respect of any offers committed, or the recovery of <iny®£ fllty or fsrfeiture incurred against jJßfcjde" the said Act " "98. This Act, IK exception of section 9? of this Act, shall come into operation on the day on which it is assented to by the Governor in the name and on behalf of her Majesty, and section 97, of this Act, shall come into operation on such day as the Governor shall by proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette, declare,"

The Bill was again re-committed for the purpose of making some alterations. In clause 12—All property within the colony to winch any person is entitled shall be liable to taxation in respect of so much of the value thereof as shall eiceed five hundred pounds sterling, but subject to the exemptions and deductions hereinafter provided—"The words "to which any person is entitled" have been omitted, and of which'any. person is owner substituted. In clause 16—which will be found inserted above—the following words have been added thereto :- And no such insurance company shall be liable to taxation under this Act in any further respect." To clause 2'4-The mteiest of every person in any property shall be separately assessed, and every f°a Shal be liable t0 il respect of the value of Ins interest in such property: provided that in respect of any Tit ma ! 7 tenanc y exceeding a r nte - tof th « of such land Shall be estimated at a sum equal an amount of fourteen times the annual rental received by the owner in respect of such land—the' pro" viso has been added:-" And the interest i rr^ P ' erofßUchland slla H be estimated.at the sum such interest might be expected to bring if offered at public auction for cash. To clause 26-i.tive to property exempt from taxation—the words all vessels of every kind," and all policies of .life assurance," have been added. In the latter part of clause 70- and such to, together with such addition, shall be recoverable in any tour.of-competent jurisdiction, by the Deputy-Commissioneras a debt due to I e ,, w ° r after Commissioner have b en omitted, and "on behalf of the Uown, by suit in his own name," subsituir!n!'ll V elVOtller lllinol ' alterations have also been made.