The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1888. The New Property Tax Valuations.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2976, 14 August 1888, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1888. The New Property Tax Valuations.

Some interest will shortly be manifested in the new Property Tax valuations, and people will be anxious to learn whether they are likely to rale high or low. There is an impression that the Government would like a stiff valuation, not only for the sake of the money derivable from such an estimate, but for the credit of tlio colony, which has of late years been at. a low ebb in the London market, If the Government have sanguine expectations on this score, we shall not be sorry to see them disappointed, The old valuation was undoubtedly defective, being in many instances too high aud in some too low, It is of course very difficult to fix a thoroughly satisfactory basis in valuing land. The cash selling rate is not always a reliable criterion in districts where there aro no purchasers, and this condition is by no means an uncommon experience in this colony. If, on the other hand, valuers rely for their basis on the ruling market prices for stock and produce, the coining valuation is likely'to be somewhat high, as we are at least on the threshold of a general advance in such values. We may reasonably expect that with each successive valuation the Property Tax I department becomes more adept in assessing values, and that as far as it can influence the return by the selection of reliable valuators it will do so. Each triennial return ought to approximate to real values more closely than its predecessor, and in time, if we have the misfortune to retain the property tax, an almost mathematical result will be attained. In the case of boroughs, it is understood that the municipal valuations will be accepted for the property tax, and these rates are usually pretty reliable. The element of doubt .extends .only to suburban, rural, and pastoral lands, and on these let us hope the new valuations will sit lightly. People have had in very many instances to pay on heavy valuations during the past three years, and if in the coming triennial period tliey get off a little easily it will only be fair. The bed rock has been reached in most things in New Zealand, and if we touch the bottom with our next property valuation the result will not be an unmitigated evil. That enhanced values will shortly be attached to land we do not doubt, and for this reason we venture to hope that the coming valuations will be retrospective rather than prospective. •"