Tax idea mooted
Wellington reporter An alternative to company tax based on a lowrate asset tax was suggested in Sydney yesterday by the former Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas. It was questionable whether taxing company profits was the best way to tax capital, he said. “I have always found it tempting to think that a very low rate qf tax on assets has got more to offer.
“Nobody in the world has done it, and there are some pretty large practical problems,” said Mr
Douglas. “But if we are talking about principles, as distinct from problems of practice, it has to be an objective to encourage people to own productive assets, and to reward productive use of those assets. “Where is the benefit in making a highly productive, highly profitable farm worth $1 million pay a very high level of tax, while a neglected farm worth exactly the same amount pays no tax ?” Productivity and output would be rewarded if both farms were taxed the same.
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Press, 4 April 1989, Page 38
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166Tax idea mooted Press, 4 April 1989, Page 38
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