THE PROPERTY TAX.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 421, 23 March 1880, Page 2

THE PROPERTY TAX.

[To the Editor Wairarapa Daily.], Masterton, March 22, (

Sir,—Perhapß the readers of your, paper may feel interested in the following extracts, which will enable them, to judge between the action of the late .LiberalGovernment and the present Inquisitorial Government:— .

1. Copy of notice to owner of .personal property-Form No.' 3 :-" In pursuance of "The Property Assessment .Act; 1879, you are hereby' required■to'fill up the following statements in thisreturn as are applicable to your particular c&Be, and cause it to be delivered within twenty;one,days from this-date, in default of which you will be liable to a penalty of £IOO, and to be assessed and- charged treble'duty." • ■..- ■ ?

Then-follows a list of- personal properly, one line running thus':—Furniture and household goods, including jewelry,' plate, works of art, books; and all other' personal property whatsoever, not otherwise _ described," Three schedules are provided, in* whioh owners .of personal property are required to give particulars; of mortgagees or bills of sale, held or given, and " the name, occupation, and addvesa in full" of debtors and creditors must be given. Aleo, the name of owner, and. description of land in each persons' occupation is to be furnished, and the .valuations placed thereon by the local bodies must be furnished. - > : -

Then ouraes the following :—"lnfilling ■up this form you should remember that personal property includes everything not coming under the head of real property (see clause 2), and therefore you must estimate the value of any of the following you possess:—Horses, cattle, sheep, or other live stock, produce, merchandise, stock-in-trade, plant,. maohinery (other than agricultural in actual use) furniture, jewelry, plate; works of art, cash, cash in bank, annuities, debentures, debts, sums due to you on mortgage, lien, on bill" ofsale, and'everything else you possess, except shares in banking and ihsuranoe com-' panies, jwhich must not be-included, as companies make returns, aud are directly liable,fprihe;ta;.!„ , ,..- r .,, v . : ; u - Tlie

mands full and minute particulars, with name and addreßS of mortgagee, &c. The valuations are to be made or before the 30th of June, .1880, and the tax has to be paid for the currentyear. Every person owning..any property, .whether entitled to exemption.or .not, shall, when required, 'furnish a return of (all he possesses,'all his mortgages, truth of .all there returnshas also '^/be made. If.your readers will observe allusiommade: in-the pa iris and penalties for refusing ;or neglect ing .tojfurnish : ithe.\.returnsV they will L perceive that the,; administrators of thr Act. not'"sanguiiie.; abouty / collectinsj.itH '' 'hit me just point ..also, the, inj|/ i two;of thVin'struotipns|6:;val'uators, f viz:.." v 3.: It Is; upon >you,Ato make yourself; fullyacquainted'jrithvthose provisions oFtheAct Wwhich I ,your'special duty requires youf attention,, and in pursuance.of the work of valuation to endeavor to make the operation of the Act as. ' little burdensome, and as pleasant as it is possible to do, . "23. Where,' it may appear to you advisable, draw attention to the penal clauses U and 95; but'this must.be done with great tact, and orihd account are you permitted to threaten."' ; ' ! ' •

> I think these extracts 4 -sir, will be sufficient without any comment from me, but there is one phase of the little •'arrangements of this excessively kind and fastening Government of the. Hon Mr Hall'tHat I should like to call attention to, and that is the tendency of the whole-working of the Act to put the knowledgeof the exact position, of all persons in this .favored country into the hands of ; the -Government. They will.be able to obtain such a knowledge of their, political opponent's affairs as in many cases 1 to'ruin- the said opponents. Of course, Ido not insinuate for a moment that they would make use' of their knowledge for any such purpose; certainly, not; everything is conducted under secrecy; but I cannot help remembering in connection ■ with' secret ocour'rencos, that the Tolegraph Department is also a secret'onei Of course the ; Valuators, Boards; of Supervisors,' Property Tax Commissioners, and their clerks' ad lib.,' will be in possession of these secrets, but they must not divulge them, and we could not for a moment suppose that they would .make any use of their knowledge themselves when tempted! : I commend this to our political leadew, and if it is not sufficient • (there is yet more) .to awaken them, then 1 say they deserve to be sold into slavery right away.-Yours, &0., Anti-Oppression.