The Press. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1878.

Press, Volume XXX, Issue 4078, 22 August 1878, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1878.

Having drawn attention to the view of the Government that the demand for a change in the incidence of taxation will bo satisfied, as a matter of justice, by the removal of £28,000 of duty from tea, £68,500 from sugar, and £19,726 from other articles, many of which cannot be classed as luxuries, we shall proceed to show that, assuming such reductions to be either politic or necessary, the Ministry have failed in adopting the proper means of restoring to the revenue the anticipated loss resulting from the reductions proposed. They have, as it appears, determined, in defiance of all economical principles, to single out one or two special classes of property on which to experiment, iv pursuance of what they are pleased to term, a liberal finance. Tho £110,000 which it is proposed to raise by direct taxation, to supply the want caused by tariff reductions, amounting to say £117,000, is to be derived, for the most part, from a tax of a halfpenny in the £ on landed property, and an income tax on joint stock companies of threepence in the £. So far as the amount of these impositions is concerned, there would be little to complain of. if the necessities of tho colony required additional revenue, aud tho support of the public credit and administration made it indispensable. But it is impossible to escape the fear that a Ministry that have deliberately entered on a policy of patchwork finance, will in all probability repeat the process, however uncalled for it may be. A little consideration will show that tho mode in which the land is to bo taxed is unreasonable and unfair. Tho land ownor is to bo taxed on whatever the selling value of his land may reach ovor £500, without improvements. At first sight it might be thought that nothing could bo easier than to say that the land in a particular locality would fetch so much and then to make an estimate of the improvements, and deduct the amount, together with the £500 exemption, from the total and levy the tax on the balance. This, however, would be a great error. We will undertake to say that over a great part of tho country, if not over the whole of it, it would be impossible for any one, however experienced and acute, to say even approximately what would be tho valuo of improved land, if it were in a perfectly -wild state. In the case of heavy lands it would bo practically impossible, inasmuch as drainage has so completely altered the character and appearance of such laud, that no valuer could, with any confidence, estimate what an impassable swamp would now bo worth, if it had remained in its original condition. The only possible basis would be what it had fetched before it was drained and improved; and this would be untrustworthy, because much property has not changed hands for years. Bush land brought into cultivation is another striking instance of the impracticability of tho plan. Over a vast portion of the colony, nearly all the value of certain land consists in the timber that grows on it. When the bush has disappeared the laud is scarcely worth anything. On the other hand, a no less extensive area of bush land is doubled, trebled, and even quadrupled, by the removal of the timber. Under such circumstances, how can the value, without improvements, bo ascertained, or at any rate equitably settled, so as to meet both these cases ? Their present value, just as they stand, wonld be easy, safe, and fair. - Turning to tho improvement exemption notion, in its application to city and suburban lands, the impossibility of applying it, with any degree of fairness, is at once apparent. Under the proposed system, a person may build a great bank or office, or a store, or a factory, at a cost of many thousands of pounds, and ho will pay only on the land on which it stands, whilst his poorer neighbour, who has a building, costing only a few hundreds, on a piece of land no larger, will .have to pay just as much. Both of them have erected their respective improvements for their own advantage, and the furtherance of their own business, not for the benefit of the State. It is, indeed, hard to discover how such a plan can be consistent with the view that everybody should " pay according to his " means." Not less remarkable is the effect as regards private residences. A farmer or large land owner in the country may make himself comfortable by building a house worth a thousand pounds or more. His neighbour may be content with a residence worth only a fifth of that sum. In many cases, the land of the man with the small house is worth as much as that of the man with the large one, but as the tax is on land alone, without improvements, they will pay equally. Applying this to towns and suburbs; it will be seen that the doctrine reaches the heigtit of absurdity. Plenty of instances will present themselves where a residence worth two or three thousand pounds has for its immediate neighbour a cottage worth a few hundreds, and on land of equal size and value. But according to the Ministerial proposals, if the two pieces of land exceed in value £500, the owners will be taxed, and taxed to an exactly equal amount. It is scarcely conceivable that such a nonsensical proposition could be gravely made. There is a fair way of imposing a land tax, and only one, and it is that the tax shall be levied on the land exactly as it stands with its improvements, and according to its value, including whatever permanent improvements are on it.

The completion of through communication between Christchurch and Dunedin is, we are pleased to learn, to be celebrated in a befitting manner. The occasion has been considered important enough to justify Parliament adjourning for several days, in order to allow tbe members an opportunity of being present. It is announced that the Hinemoa will leave Wellington on Friday, September 6th, arriving in Lyttelton next day. His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch has, we understand, resolved to entertain onr visitors and others at a banquet on Saturday evening, in honor of the event. On their arrival in Dnnedin a similar fate will await them. This, of course, is quite proper. Withont such aid the importance of the occasion would not have been marked in an appropriate fashion. But should not something more be done ? Might not steps be taken to welcome those visitors who will arrive by the first through train from the Southern capital ? Oar puaedin neighbors are

sure to make arrangements to give a cordial greeting, not only to the members of the Assembly, but to every Christchurch citizen who honors them with a visit. We hope, therefore, that similar hospitality will be extended to our visitors from the South.