MAJOR ATKINSON ON THE PROPERTY TAX.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 214, 3 April 1886, Page 3

MAJOR ATKINSON ON THE PROPERTY TAX.

\i Mij.-i Atkinson's meeting at AucklaiK i • Tuesday night, the following questun \ is jiskcd by aMr Kwh .— l< By Uxmg th< • >cks of giocera, butchers, and b.iker ii • you not taxing the necessaries of life I - it not the labouring chases that pay this 1 1 x m the end?" \l ijor Atkinson said tho question wa 1 j.uL so cuiiouxly that it was almost im I i-ible to answer it, but, a,s it evidently i 1. 1 rod to the property tax, he would i i iLo a few remarks on that subject. Tht gi t of the question was, that the labouring cl .^es p.ud all the property tax. Well, ir hi . opinion they did not If it was tru( lli tt the labouring classes paid the pro piity t:ix-, then it wan equally true thai ti y paid all taxes, for their grocers, fii ipprs, tailors, etc., had to pay the (' i->t<>ins duties, and if the butcher-) and !; ketw could >>bift the tax on to the labour im< classes so also would the grocers and ii ipers. (A Voico : "And, so they do."] T.ii'ii they arrived at this, that there was n«i t ■ \ at all, except on the labouring classes I >id they think that only those who went uut tilth a pick and fehovel worked? He worked as hard as any of them with his Immils and with his mind. He was working »i>w. They reduced it to an absurdity \. iicn they said that ouly labour was taxed. They taxed the product of labour, that wae property. Why, if labour only was to be t i\ed matters would be very much simplified, for all they would require to do would be tn put a poll tax on labourers, and so t ' it y reduced the proposition to an absurdity. What was taxed was^ccuinulated property, <<.nd in his mind that .was .what ought to be I i\cd. The gentlemen behind him cried out for a laud tax. Why, they had that already to the full extebtjtHjife these gentlemen asked for, namely*, seven-eighths of a penny in the £ on its unimproved value. i ''it they did not want a tax on the property wii'ch went with the land. He did not k,uow whether they also wanted an income t:,\. (Hear, hear.) Then, the only question i-— whether property* i» to be charged on capital or income. They charged now on 1 md, and those gentlemen got all they \\ anted, and the only dispute was whether tliey should tax capital (ft tb« produce /if pioperty. To illustrate, say they t«ok a farm to start with worth, say, ,'J iOOO, and, suppose that the unimproved value of the farm was £1000, under tho propi rty tax the owner would pay on the £1000 the unimproved value of the farm, :uicl on the £4000 its improved value. But then those gentlemen said that was wrong, th.it the tax must be on the income. Now, let them put two farms together, each of oqual value. The one ia owned by a ilinfty man with a thrifty wife, hard-work-ing people, and they wontd make, say, 15 per cent., that was £150 for each £1000. The other farm was owned by a l.i/.y man, with an indifferent wife, and he in ide, «ay, 5 per cent, or perhaps nothing, or perhaps mado a loss,, as he would be mobt likely to do, in tß<* And The thrifty in tn, making 15 per cent., although having only the same advantaees as the unthrifty man who made only 5 per.ce.nt,, would contribute three times as ''mu'cb to thfe revenue by the income tax. Both paid the land tax under the property tax. The same applied ty the thrifty tradeitna/i. His view was that there was nothing fair in the income tSx. He did not believe it it, for all big properties would get off cheaper. (Cheers.) lie spoke from knowledge. He, as an Englishman, had gone into it, having paid it in England, but Tie i found* that an income 111 1 v was practically impossible in a young c Miitiy like this. He saw the difficulties experienced in America. Why, the returns to bo made out would frighten three pafts <>" Iha colonists into fits. (Laughter.) In Aum'icAft farmer had to make returns of tlii -> kind. If he killed a sheep and sold 1) i,l f of it to a neighbour, or sold a few fowls i»r a bushel of apples, he would have to return that as income, but if he employed labour ttv grow tho crops he would deduct tho cot.t of this labour. # If he employed labour in fencing or draining, or what was lulled betterment of his farm, he would deduct that, and so on. Now, he asked them —if there were any, formers present— what would be their consternation if they had to iill such a return as this? How many people last year, for instfrncejihflnany parts of the colony made incomes ? Many made no incomes at all ; they lived on capital. Brides, they could not go into the iiicmnes of small farmers. ' Now, he asked w!iy was land to be specially taxed? (A Voice: The unearned increment.) Let th»»m not mix two subjects. ' There was no such thing as the unearned increment, but lid" would refer to that preiently. He wanted to put this to them : Thirty-three yj.u-s ago he bought a small quantity of lain!, which he still occupied, and paid full value for it, mid ho now ventured to say that he could not sell it for what it cost to got it into its present state, and that was tlr> pisition of the colony generally. He p.iid full value for the land { and why s'rmikl he be selected to "be specially taxed ? They begged them to go on the land, and t'if»ti specially taxed them. But those gentlemen said tax the unearned increment. Tnere wiw no such thing. He would sell 111 1 any man who would give him for his lajvl what it cost him. Did not the property tax get the unearned increment? ("No.") He said, yes. His friend must .- 1 r 1 nit that they had a tax on land, and t!i it every three years as it rose in value so w.'rn tho taxes increased. Directly the I ihd rose in value, and ' a land fever took pUce, as many of them knew to their K.n'row, land was cnt up into small fnrim' or allotment* and sold; the owner pocketing s>ay a fourth of the purchasemoney, and retaining a mortgage over the piapt-rty for the balance. But the purchaser was the owner, not the iportgagee, airl when the tox-gatnerer camo along he s ii 1 that the unearned increment amounted t > £3 an acre, and he must pay it, and in u\ eiy increase of value the unearned increment went into the pockets of the sellers. (A V >ice : We don't .propose to tax anythin? under a thonsurfd acres). Major At!, i") i son said that was not aland tax but a pen il tax on persons holding over 1000 uc-u'i-. Let them not mix the two things up. He had told them Jils views and Why liij preferred a property, tax to an incoitfe I 1I 1 v. What the State should say to a man, tay who has £20,000, is this, " You may do wli .t yon choose with your money, invest it a' you please, lend it on interest, or do u ii it you like with it, but you must pay on it to the State which : protects 'you in the n n of it, as it i* realisable proj>erty which \on must leave behind you." (Cheers). T l.'\ for instance, a small-^-adeaman ,who h i> £1000 invested in his" business. To pay liun-elf he must make ; £2o0 f A-yoar out of In . business, and why" slioiud he be charged nn tii.it income when the rich man who put hi- money in diamonds or pictures was not ciuugdd? (Cheers).

Kn-glish Parliament. — The opening b\ the Queen of the eleventh Parliament ot her reign is a circumstance a parallel to w <iich cannot be found since the time ot Henry VI. Th el ve Parliaments were summoned within the 60 years' reign of Gooige 111., but that sovereign cau only b • said to have opened te!n> of them)' for turn- opened in 1812 and 1818 were con. \u\ed by the Prince Regent. George I. o; -'-ell two Parliaments, his successor i\\ i , George IV. (as King) two, and Willi an IV. four. Elizejbeth .summoned. eirrht ; bnt it is when we 'get back" to 'the* 1 caily days of Parliament that the total .suoil-s 'Edward 11. called 16, Richard 11. 18, Henry VI. 21, and Edward 111. no feuor than 31. Cvi'E Colony has vow 1,539 miles of mih'.a} open as against 1,453 mi1es at the clo-e of 18S4. The traffic earnings for List year amounted to £963,929. As jk till v as can be computed up to yester(by, the earnings of thg jmstyear amount to about £1 ,034, 866r"The" earnings for tho month of December, are far above the a\ er.igc for other months, beipg no less thin about £104,000. The Customs for 18S1 amounted to £1,016,716; including an approximate return for December, the Customs for 1885 amounted to £1,052,786. It may be of interest to note that the expoit of specie by merchants only has ainouuted during the year to £413,817. N.) account is kept of specie exported by Government; but as any transactions of (im eminent would be presumably thiuugh the Standard Bank, that does not signify. The export of gold, in bar, diibt, nuggets, and ore, has amounted to ,"),030 ounces, valued at £17,321. Last you- there were 842 insolvencies, with assets, £765,453 and liabilities, jC 1,104, 01 3. This year there has been* gi oat diminution. Imiu.fstion.— The main cause of nervouiness is indigestion, and that ireansed-bjr-weaknesTof t)i< stomach. No one can have sound nerves ,unl s.>md health without using American C 6.'s hco Hitters to strengthen the stomach, purify tli Wood, and keep tho liver and kidneys .iLUxe, to carry off the poisonous and waste jnattcr of th,o »jstem. See,