LAND POLICY OUTLINED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 123, 9 March 1950, Page 6

LAND POLICY OUTLINED

WAYS OF AVOIDING INFLATION VIEW OF FEDERATED FARMERS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, • March 8. The full land proposals of Federated Farmers are set out in a statement released to-day by the « chairman of Federated Farmers (Mr E. W. McCallum). The proposals are : (1) That Federated Farmers favours the abolition of, current physical conon the sale of farm land and considers that any possible -inflations can , be avoided by financial control such as (a) by limiting the amounting mortgage that can ■be charged against the value of land when purchased to a fixed percentage of the Government valuation of that laiffl; (b) by levying a transfer tax on the profit that accrues from a land transaction within a short interval after a previous transaction involving the same land. Exceptions to this would be death and' improvements. (2) The federation makes the following suggestions to encourage fanners to sell land: (a) Give elderly farmers who are selling out to returned servicemen 5 per cent. Government stock as a consideration for the selling price; (b) facilitate a fanner disposing of property to obtain a State or other house; (c) increase the amount of unearned income that is exempt from the penal tax of 33 1-3 per cent, in the case of persons over 55; (d) alter the basis of assessing unearned income, which is assessed at present at the maximum rate to which the. individual taxpayer is liable;* (e) give farmers the option of treating basic livestock as a capital asset for tax purposes, as recommended by the Agricultural Committee of the House of Representtives and the Royal Sheep Commission last year.

(3) Tiie federation makes the following suggestions to make more land available for rehabilitation purposes: (a) Vigorous development of unoccupied land and the opening up of partially-developed Crown land to returned soldiers; (b) where land is__sold privately to returned soldiers without buildings on the land, the former serviceman is to be placed on the same footing as would have been the case if the Government had purchased the land and provided the necessary build ings and improvements to settle him thereon.

(4) That effective steps should be taken to prevent undue aggregation of property.