WHOLE SYSTEM TO BE REVISED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 282, 26 August 1939, Page 13

WHOLE SYSTEM TO BE REVISED

Taxation On Land And

Income

LEGISLATION THIS

SESSION

Announcement By Acting-

Prime Minister

Au ayiiuitnceiiient that the whole system of land and income taxation would be revised in legislation to be introduced this session was made by the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in the House of Representatives yesterday during discussion on the Land and Income Tax (Annual) Bill. Mr. Fraser’s announcement followed a sustained attack by Opposition speakers on the present land tax. The legislation, said Mr. Fraser, would, he thought, accord with the ideas of the Opposition. "The owner of kind these days pays all other taxes and pays land tax as well," said Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratford). “He is really paying a tax on his factory. It is a class tax. It should not be allowed. It Is the most objectionable form of tax, because it has to be paid, win or lose. It is a vicious victimization of a class. Double Taxation. The Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Hamilton, asked if there was a single good reason why farmers should pay land tax, specially now when all farmers were required to pay income tax. Farmers were not specially privileged, or specially able io afford io be subjected to double taxation. “This opens up a question on which the debate may go on till next year,” said Mr. Fraser. It was intended, he said, to introduce a Land and Income Tax Amending Bill which would embody the ideas of the Opposition, and he suggested that the discussion should be postponed till then, when the whole of land and income taxation would pass in review. The new Act would not. of course, apply to this year’s taxation. Mr. Polson: Will the Bill come down this session? Mr. Fraser: Yes. Mr. Wilkinson (Independent, Egmont.) : Why will it not apply to this yean? Mr. Fraser: It: will apply to this year’s income, which will be assessed for taxation next year. Local Body Kates. Beside land fax, said Mr. Wilkiusun, most farmers had to pay heavy local body rates. There had never been a land tax in England, nor in many other countries, and a tax which was levied on the source of income was quite out of touch with modern developments. Nine-tenths of the tax was actually Imposed on capital value, though it was supposed to be on unimproved value, said Mr. J till (Opposition, Waipawa). “Because this tax has got whiskers on it, it doesn’t mean that it is a reputable tax,” he said.