A GHOST OF A TAX.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 161, 9 July 1888, Page 4

A GHOST OF A TAX.

This is the ■term applied to the tax now levied upon laud in England. It appears that last year a sum of a little over a million pounds sterling was collected from it, whereas, had the lega] amount been demanded, no less than £36,000,000 have been drawn into the national Treasury. Land therefore at present in Great Britain, as elsewhere, plays a very humble part in the fiscal system of that country. There was a time in Britain when the land played the most important part in providing the national revenue"; but when personal property was laid under contribution, and Customs duties were levied, the landowners, who were also the law-makers and revenue-raisers, quietly shifted the burden off their lands on to the shoulders of the masses, who, not perceiving the intention, innocently submitted to the innovation, Several events have occurred recently in Britain, which haje caused

special attention to be drawn to the land-owners there, and the question is raised why this tax should have been allowed to become a mere ghost of a tax instead of contributing its just proportion to the national necessities.

One flagrant case cropped up recently in the island of Lewis, owned by Lady Matheson. Four hundred of her crofter tenants petitioned her, pointing out that they were starving on their little plots of land, and asked that their ancient and hereditary township lands, which are now lying waste, might be restored to them. They were quite willing to allow the Land Court to fix the rent. All that they wanted was a little more land to enable them to exist on the island on which they were born. They presented their petition in person, and the papers say they were " very orderly and well-behaved." Lady Matheson point blank refused the request, and gave the men a little advice on her own account. She recommended them to sell their cattle so as to pay their arrears of rent, and turn their attention to fishing, and if they found that did not answer they had better emigrate.

The leader-of the party mildly suggested that so long as there was waste and unoccupied laud on the island, there was no necessity for adopting either of these courses, to which her 'ladyship replied : " These lands are my property, and you have nothing to do with them." The question was then argued in the papers as to whether any private individual could have the right to say to the inhabitants of a certain district. "You shall either clear out or starve !" And as the position assumed by Lady Matheson appeured to be perfectly legal, how best could it be met ?

The reply from several quarters at once came, " Only by the imposition of a tax on the actual value of the land." A Canadian paper prints the copy of the report of a Royal Commission which sat some time ago to consider this question of land taxation. Several prominent men were members of it, amongst others the Prince of Wales, Cardinal Manning, Lord Salisbury, Henry Broadhurst, Jesse Collings, and Sir Charles Dilke. In their report, they emphatically lay down "that the owners of land are now taxed, not on the real value, but on the annual income. They can thus afford to keep their land out of the market, and to part with only small quantities, so as to raise the price beyond the natural monopoly price." They recommended a four per cent, tax on the selling value, and concluded by saying, "Your Majesty's Commissioners would recommend that these matters should be included in legislation, when the law of rating comes to be dealt with by Parliament."

It is a very curious and significant commentary upon our present position in this colony that in July, 1844, a select committee of the English House of Commons was appointed "to inquire into the state of the colony of New Zealand and to report the same and their opinions thereon to the House." The names of several well known men, long since dead, appear on that committee list. From the minutes of evidence, which may fbe perused in our Public Library, they appear to have taken great pains with their subject, and they brought up their report, one clause of which is as follows :—"That in order to prevent land from being held by parties not intending to make use of the same, a land tax ought to be imposed, that all parties claiming land should be required to put in their claims and pay one year's tax in advance, within twelve months." Had this wise provision been made in those early days, which was recommended by men who, though landowners themselves, were perfectly aware of what an injurious thing it was to a nation to have its lands locked up in large unutilised blocks by a few individuals, New Zealand would not now be in the disastrous financial position which she occupies. It has been pointed out that in England the landed estates have been increased in value through the English railway system, and yet they are positively relieved of a large share of the local taxation through its being borne by the railways. In 1814 the land paid 69 per cent; of this local taxation; the railways paid nil. In 1884 the land paid 28 per cent, only, houses paid 53, railways 14 and other property 10. The House of Lords, in 1818, threw out the Stockton Railway Bill, as a railway through that country would have disturbed the Duke of Cleveland's fox covers. This railway has made the Duke's successor one of the richest men in England.

According to recent reliable statistics 10,000 persons own two-thirds of England and. Wales, 300 owners hold twothirds of Scotland, and 1,900 persons own two-thirds of Ireland. This latter is about the proportion of owners to alienated land in this colony. But if all the land-owners of. the United Kngdom took the same stand as Lady Matheson, they could easily depopulate the country, and at present legally they have the power.