HOSPITAL LEVY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 173, 23 July 1936, Page 15

HOSPITAL LEVY.

INCIDENCE UNFAIR.

RATES ON PROPERTY. ONE TREE HILL DISCUSSION

The incidence of taxation for hospital purposes was discussed by Mr. A. Leese, town clerk of the One Tree Hill Borough Council, in a report which was presented to the council last evening.

A circular letter had been received from the Petonc Borough Council forwarding the following resolution: —"That the incidence of the costs of hospital board administration should be reviewed as an urgent matter, in the direction of relieving ratepayers from part or the whole of the burden arising from such costs, and that the Municipal Association be urged to make representations on the above subject to the Government."

"At the present time, levies on contributing local authorities and the Government subsidy each form about onethird of the total receipts of hospital boards, the ' remaining third being chiefly patients' fees and other recoveries on account of >'elief," said Mr. Lee3e in his report. "If the present form of local control of hospitals is to continue, there can be no question of the necessity, in' the interest of administrative efficiency, for local taxation toward the support of these institutions. 1 "Before representations are made to the Government it would be advisable to face this fact and decide just how far i'K-al authorities are prepared to go — whether or not it is desired that all hospitals should be transferred to the direct control of the Government, which would certainly be the effect of complete relief from hospital taxation. "A point often lost sight of in these matters is that there is only one community to pay all taxes, both national and local, and the shifting of the burden from one to the other does not relieve the taxpayers as a whole, although it may effect the incidence of the tax. In my opinion, the principal objection to local hospital contributions is not the proportion, but the incidence of the tax, rates being a levy on one form of wealth only, that of fixed property, all other forms of wealth escaping, except in so far as the tax is passed on in the ordinary course of business. In most cases, of course, this particular tax cannot be passed on. "It is difficult to see how the drawback can be remedied, there being no satisfactory. substitute for property rates for local purposes, but in any case a similar position arises with respect to most forms of State taxation, which are based on expediency rather than equity, one of the notable exceptions being the graduated income tax. "Some measure of relief would accrue to ratepayers if charitable aid were made a national responsibility, as with unemployment relief, but the administration 'of this Department presents peculiar difficulties, owing to the impossibility of standardising assistance grants, and, if the Government met the full cost, it is most unlikely that it would permit the -hospital board to administer the fund. The resolution submitted by Pctone will have little effect, as no'attempt has been made to present a substitute for the existing system." The Mayor, Mr. I. J. Goldstine, said the incidence of the taxation was inequitable, and lie reviewed the efforts of other contributing local bodies to obtain relief. Charitable aid was a nsttional and not a local matter, and. as Mr. Leese had pointed out. it was unfair to tax one form of wealth. TTe moved the following resolution: "While agreein"- that liosnital levies are burdensome and some relief is desirable, the council considers that the resolution of the Petone Borough Council should not be submitted to the Government, .but that definite proposals showing their c» oct be forwarded by the sponsors of the resolution, and that the Petone Council be sent a copy of Mr. Leese's report. The resolution was passed.