TAX ASSESSMENT

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 135, 10 June 1919, Page 8

TAX ASSESSMENT

LAND AND INCOME

PROPORTION OF PAYMENTS.

"Realising the keen interest displayed at the present time by the taxpayer of the Dominion with reference to the incidences of land and income taxation," said the Hon. Arthur Myers, Acting .Minister of Finance, to a representative of The Post, "I have had the following tables prepared giving the yield of land and income tax for the years ended 31st March, ,1914, to 1919. These tables will no doubt be of considerable interest in. view of tho fact that the whole question of tax assessment will be reviewed in the near future." • Yields of Land and Income Tax for the Years ended 31st March, 1914 to 1919. Proportion per Land Tax. cent of total £ taxation. 1914 '767,451 12.97 1915 ' 799,641 13.60 1916- ....'..1..:' 1,048,356 14.43 1917 •.....;...-. 713,118 6.76 1918 ......... '1,385,708 11.23 1919' 1,512,693 11.03 * Proportion per Income Tax. cent, of total ■ ' £ taxation. 1914 ......... 554,271 9.37 ' 1915 .: 540,318 9.19 1916 1,392,119 19.16 1917 4,262,126 40.40 1918 5,619,561 45.54 1919 6,219,335 45.36 (approx.) Taking the same periods, Mr. Myers said that the rates of, tax were as follow :— Land Tax. • 1914.—0 rd. Id, mort.' gd, grad. mm. l-32d, grad. max. 5.5-6 d. 1915.—0 rd. Id, mort. fd, 'grad. mm. l-32d, grad', max: 5.5-6 d. 1916.—0 rd. Id, mort. Id, grad. mm. l-32d, grad. max. 5.5-6 d, plus 50 per cent, super tax. . . "' 1917.—0 rd. Id, grad. mm. l-32d, grad. max. 5.5-6 d, plus 50 per cent, super tax. 1918.—Mm. l-|d, max. 10id. 1919.—Mm. lid,/max. 10£ d. Incomo Tax. 1914.—Mm. 6d, max. Is 4d. 1915.—Min'. 6d,.max. Is 4d.' 1916.—Mm. 8d„ max. 2s Bd. - 1917.—Mm. Is 2d, . max.. 3s Bd, plus excess profits duty 45.----1918.—Mm.. Is, 3d, max. 7s 6d. 1919.—Mm. Is 3d, max. 7s 6d. . "It will be, remembered," said Mr. Myers, "that during the 1917 session, the excess profits .duty, which was found to present great difficulty of application, and displayed many anomalies creating injustice as between one taxpayer and' another, was abolished, and. the whole assessment of land and income tax was revised. The system of charging two land; taxes, ordinary and graduated,, was repealed ; and one: tax imposed .at a progressive rate; The allowance of the deduction of mortgages from the unim--proved value of the land was' repealed, thus completely, transferring the assess^ ment 0 f- mortgages from land tax to income ,tax. An tjnended progressive rate was imposed on incomes ranging from 6d in the £ up to 3s in the £, and a special war tax was imposed on all assessable incomes. in excess of £200 at the schedule rates for the ordinary income tax with an addition of 50 per cent. This method of assessment of land and1 income with the rates of tax then enacted! are still in force."