Rating Problems

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30562, 3 October 1964, Page 12

Rating Problems

The rating problems that held Parliament’s attention for a time this week cannot be solved by tinkering with the valuation system, as Mr Walsh, the member for Tauranga, pointed out. The basis of land valuation is the measurement of what any piece of land is worth to the buyer. To introduce other factors, such as the hardship suffered by an elderly person of limited means living in a cottage on a valuable piece of land or the difficulties of a farmer living on the outskirts of a city, would be to destroy the sound base to which all valuations can be related. It would create many more anomalies than now exist. The correct approach to the difficulties discussed in Parliament is through rating and tax exemption, accompanied by some form of charge on the land to ensure that owners of valuable properties do not eventually get a capital gain from community development to which they have made no adequate contribution. It should not be forgotten, either, that one of the principles of rating is that it should encourage the most economic use of the land. Land suitable for industrial or commercial premises Is not economically used if it is occupied by an old dwelling.