WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1879. THE LAND TAX RETURNS.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 515, 21 May 1879, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1879. THE LAND TAX RETURNS.

Considering the remarkably slight data he had to go upon, the Colonial Treasurer's estimate of the amount likely to be raised by the Land Tax proves a wonderfully accurate one. Mr. Ballance estimated that the tax would yield £104,000, although in ronnd numbers it was set down at £100,000. In reality the official valuations now complete show that the tax will produce £105,625. The value of the taxable property in the various Land Tax districts has been returned as follows : — Auckland, £3,235,000 ; Hawke's Bay, £3,899,079 ; Wellington, £7,983,361 ; Nelson, £3,000,000; Canterbury, £15,790,000; Otago, £16,800,000; giving a grand total of £50,707,440, on which the tax of Jd in in the £ will yield an annual revenue of £105,625. The Wellington district includes the Wellington and Taranaki provincial districts, the Nelson district includes Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland provincial districts, and the Hawke's Bay district in addition to the provincial district of that name includes part of Cook County. Mr. Ballahcb certainly deserves great credit for the accuracy of his estimate. He has perhaps rather unfairly been blamed for the inaccuracy of his estimate of the cost of collecting the tax.. The discrepancy in question, however, is more apparent than real. Mr. Ballance did not by any means bind himself to the sum of £10,000 as the probable cost of collection. In his financial statement he mentioned that sum as the minimum, but held out no expectation of its being the maximum. His words were that the cost of collection "would not be less than £10,000." As a matter of fact the cost will reach, we believe, about £18,000, but for this sum a valuation for three years has been obtained, so that it is not by any means legitimate to charge the whole amount againßt the first year's revenue. That the cost of collection is heavy in proportion to the revenue derived must be admitted ; but probably few people are sanguine enough to believe that the Colonial Treasurer, present or future, will be content with a tax of a halfpenny in the £. Whether the tax be made a penny all round, or a graduated scale be introduced, it may safely be taken for granted that the fifty odd millions' worth of property which is now found to be fairly taxable will soon be made to contribute a good deal more than £105,625 a year to the revenue. The cost of collection we need scarcely point out, will not be absolutely any greater with a heavier tax, while relatively, of course, it will decrease. The Government is now in possession of an enormous amount of most valuable information regarding the landed estates of the colony ; and this information may be turned to good advantage in other respects than for taxation purposes. In framing a budget for the coming year, Mr. Ballancb will now have accurate and reliable information to go upon, where last year he had to proceed almost by guess work. That he will be able to torn this information to good account may fairly be expected.