THE NEW TAXATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3080, 12 April 1892, Page 2

THE NEW TAXATION.

A wokki.no sottler writes as follows :—Sir, —In your 1.-sus of the sth, Messrs John and William Wapstr.iw have propounded a series of questions. May I ask you to insert the following brief answers :—No. 1. If Messrs Wapstraw will refer again to the article in tin \V;iikato Tiinss, of March 2!) th, they may observe that it is there stated: "That the whole of ihe tuxaticn ia to be tin-own upon the land." Tin's is clear enough surely as including all lands. " But in the meantime the small settler will pet off lighr.ly." This mums, if anything that iii tio " meantime," the city and suburban lan-ls, together with the large estates will .suffer ninst. The term " Poor hardworking settler," is evidently borrowed from the F.inner, and is used relatively. No. 2. OrUinly; the position of tho farmer has always been unsatisfactory. No matter what party in power, there has been a wonderful unanimity in bleeding tho fanner. J.i it tli.it is no reason why his burden should be still further increased. No. ;j. No fair-minded person could object ko a Hinder ite t.ix upon the unimprov >d value of land, if that would sulticu. But unfortunately no moderate tax upon the unimproved value would bring anything like sufficient into the exchequer to meet the enormous annual drain upon this colony, where some two millions are required for outgoing interest alone. No. 4. No; for such a tax would be tatamonnt to an ever increasing rent, and would have kept much labour and cipital out of the district. In any case it is useless to discius such probabilities. No. 5. It stands to reason, thai the smaller the sections of occupied land are inxcle, the larger—if the customs duties paid by the occupiers are added—must be the relative proportion of taxation paid par acre. This is no argument against large estates. I quite agree with their being cut Hμ, hut not " burst " up ; for it is difficult to understand that any system which is brought in, for the express purpose of driving one set of men off the laud, is also the one best calculated to attract others on to it. It is the vindictive, aggressive spirit that prompts this line of action that has set so many against it. Few would be found to object to the levying of a land tax without exemptions and for purely revenue purposes. No. G. This is so much bunkum. Land, like everything else, has its market value, at which, those who desire to do so, can generally obtain it. When land gets beyond what it is really worth for using purposes, say owing to speculation, a re-action sets in, and values recede. This is frequently witnessed in the case of town lots, and was clearly shown on the West Coast, where values of agricultural land gradually receded after tho Waimate Plains' boom, but are rallying again now that the agricultural out-look is improving. No. 7. It would be dirficnlt, in the small space at disposal, to explain much os to cause and effect in that " most remarkable" country, the United States. There, as here, the farmer has had the heaviest load to carry. But the difficulty is greatly aggravated in the States : first, by the enormous custom duties which are out of all reason, and add greatly to the cost of living. But also quite as much through the grinding monopoly exercised by the Railway Commissioners, who virtually stand between tho American farmer and his market, and by regulating the tariff can determine what tho poor fanner is to receive fur his soil.