The Bruce Herald. " Nemo me impune Lacesset" TOKOMAIRIRO, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

Bruce Herald, Volume x, Issue 957, 13 November 1877, Page 4

The Bruce Herald. " Nemo me impune Lacesset" TOKOMAIRIRO, NOVEMBER 13, 1877.

About the most important subject -which will require to be -grappled with during the approaching recess, by whoever may bold the reins of Government, is taxation The im> position of further taxation seems to be an absolute necessity, if we Avish to avoid a most deplorable and ruinous sacrifice of the public estate, or Crown land yet unsold. It would seem questionable, indeed, whether it is well to consider the proceeds of the sale of waste lands as general revenue, and whether it would not be better to place all such funds to a separate account, and devote the same to special purposes, employing a considerable portion for improving the means of locomotion on the land, from the sale of which the money has been derived. A§ opening up the country by roads and bridges is a work of the most imperative necessity, and a large amount of money is requisite for that purpose, it is questionable whether it is advisable to make even the interest ox capital expended in making main lines of railway a charge on the land revenue. In order, however, to preserve tbf {and revenue for. special purposes, aqd, open

up the country by roads, it will be absolutely necessary to resort to some means for increasing the amount of general revenue. Certainly, what with Customs duties and general and local taxes and rates, the pcop'e of the Colony are already burdened with a considerable weight of taxation, but if we are to proceed with the work of making.the, country habitable' and deyelpping its resources, it will be absolutely requisite for the'ipeople to accept on their shoulders. . some additional weight of taxation. The impositiph of further taxation will, no doubt, be found to be a delicate and difficult task, re • quiring in thedue performance of it a consider able amount of skill statesmanship. We have, at length, made the discovery that the ingenious method adopted of paying interest en the loan out of the loan itself will not altogether work as Bmoothly as was fondly anticipated it would do^tbat a considerable number of yearsmay elapse before the railway work we are engaged upon will be so far completed as, by traffic returns, to pay interest on outlay; and, in the meantime, we find ourselves in a decided fix for cash to get along with. Admitting the necessity of .further taxation, the question is how should we lay ifc on ? Should it be a land tax, a property, tax, or an income tax ? We may ultunately find it necessary to adopt. more than one of these methods of taxation, but at present the question is which shall we adopt first ? Public opinion, at pre«ent. would seem to incline in favour of a land tax.- There seem to be some very good reasons for selecting land as that kind of- property which shall prixnanly bear the infliction of fwrthor taxation. There would appear-to be no doubt that the landed iproprietprs obtain a more certain and assured benefit from money-expended in improving the country, and from introducing immigrants, than any .other class of the community, and that the. effect of introducing foreign capital into the country, and employing it, as we have done, has been more or less to Increase the value of lands, and In certain localities to increase such such value to a very large extent. Though the value of town and suburban land may fluctuate from time to time, generally speaking, the value of landed property is continnally and steadily on the increase. In imppsing further taxatipn, it would be as well to consider whether it would not be advisable to adopt to some extent the principle of relieving those people who are; struggling for a mere livelihood from the burden, and: shifting the weight more on to the shoulders of the wealthy and well-to-do. Thus Email rrural estates, say under 100 acres, the value of which estates was estimated below a certain sum, might be relieved from the land tax. If we decide to impose a land tax; the next question seems to be whether it shall be aft acreage or valuation; tax ? The landed proprietors who appear to be the most fitting objects for taxar tion are those landed speculators who hold large tracts of land In an unimproved state, and those proprietors the value of whose land' has been improved to a large extent, not bo much by labour and money laid out in improving it, as by the public capital expended ; on works. Generally speaking, what has been called the "unearned increment," would seem to be a. very fitting, object for taxation.By ah : acreage tax we "could tap the speculators, but inasmuch as the value Of land per acre varies to a large extent; the' pressure of an acreage tax would probably be unequal: A valuation tax wou]d touch jthe absentee prdprietor, and, all things considered, probably it would be better that a land tax ghoitld assume the form of a tax on the value of lands and properties, such value beiug periodically estimated: