Death Duties

Press, Volume C, Issue 29526, 30 May 1961, Page 3

Death Duties

Sir.—The reply from the panel of authors is appreciated but where is the evidence of economic loss caused by the levy of death duties? According to the 1960 New Zealand Year Book, since 1938 farm production has increased by 55 per cent and factory production by 185 per cent, up to 1958-59. Expressed per head of the population, total production has increased by 33 per cent. We seem to have gone ahead in these years. Surely the real economic loss to the nation, when a successful man dties. is the loss of personal abilities which do not necessarily pass on to his beneficiaries Most large estates are created by capital appreciation and are taxed at the most convenient time, which is at death.—Yours, etc., R.P. May 29, 1961.

Sir, —If the Land Sales Court had been kept in operation and only genuine farmers and farm workers allowed to purchase land, this present racket of jumping in and out of farms would cease. Land values would have remained at their true production value, which should be the only value a genuine farmer is interested in. The farmer who jumps in and out of farms trying to grab a few easy thousand with each transaction is only making it difficult for the true farmer and his family who are stable in outlook. Look around the properties showing outstanding production and enterprise. and one will find they are family units, where each generation has developed the property a stage further. They treat their land as sacred and count it an honour to be entrusted with it for future generations. To smash properties which are a national asset by death duties is unchristian.—Yours, etc., CHRISTIAN FARMER. May 1961.