Tax on property speculation pledge

Press, 10 June 1980, Page 2

Tax on property speculation pledge

PA> . Wellington! . The Leader of the Opposi-! t«sh- (Mr Rowling) yesterday ■ said that .a Labour Govern-! m'ent would not hesitate toi reintroduce legislation to! control property speculation, if-the need arose. 7&e told a meeting of the Building Owners’ and Man-j agers’ Association that if there was to be a concerted effort to get back to real! internal growth in the NewZealand economy, resources would have to be directed into, areas of productive need.

..Property speculation was not one of those areas. ;Mr Rowling said there had been “howls” from the property development and managing sector when he had imposed property speculation tax in 1973. .■"But, he said, urban housing price increases had fallen from slightly more than 34 per cent for the December, 1973. year, to slightly more than 4 per cent by the December, 1975, year. If faced with a similar position; he would not hesitate to implement similar legislative controls. ! "Mr Rowling also said that,' whatever changes were' made in local government in; the coming years, rating!

would remain a main source; of finance. “Rates are effectively the only form of property tax that now exists in Mew Zealand,” he said. “We believe that ability to' pay must be the determining! factor in assessing the; method of payment for local I services. Unfortunate though! it may seem, people with; substantial property are,! with few exceptions, those 1 most able to pay. “However, we recognise! that a clear limit exists on'

i the rating load that can be ■ imposed on any community, ! whether on commercial property or private homes.” ; This meant there had to ■be maximum efficiency at (local government level, Mr i Rowling said. ! Where local authorities (had risen to the challenge of accepting amalgamation, ■ they should be given maximum encouragement, bothmoral and financial, from 1 central government. I Referring to a claim from: I the association that it “rep-l (resents most New Zealand, ■taxpayers.” Mr Rowling said (that company income tax I had dropped from 15.8 per cent of total taxation in I 1973, to 8.5 per cent of the (total tax take in 1979. i However, in 10 years, I from 1967, the marginal tax rate for the average married individual taxpayer had doubled. Mr Rowling said that (changes a Labour government would make in taxation would probably not ■ draw loud applause from (property developers, but 1 (New Zealand had only two * (options: to continue to flannel around as recession ’ deepened, or move into a t concerted effort to rebuild | solid internal growth. j