CANONS OF TAXATION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 104, 29 October 1931, Page 11

CANONS OF TAXATION

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—No «ufficient reason has been given by the Government for repealing the graduated land tax. If the large landowner* were too poor to pay heavy taxation, it would have been much more to the point to have relieved them by remission of Customs and income taxes. Their poverty, if a fact, arises mostly from excessive private mortgages, but as the first mortgage on land is the Public Debt . of nearly £300,0(30,000 (most of it borrowed and spent to create the value of New Zealand) the annual value of land should justly be a first charge in redemption of.it. In imposing principles of taxation. Governments have no right to take cognisance of the private arrangements between individuals. The fact that people have impoverished themselves through unwise agreements should carry no weight at all. To think otherwise is most improper. The Wellington City Council in issuing ita rate demands rightly ignores mortgage* or any other debts of citizens, basing its demands solely on the value of land aa being a just measure of the value of the services rendered. AH Government* should do likewise. Not "ability to pay," but "for services rendered," is the logical and just canon of taxation. Th« ignoring of this is the cause "of molt of our public misfortunes. No one except a few medical men (and they unwillingly) ever use* the "ability to pay" argument in their business. Prices are not varied according to the purse of. the buyer, but are fixed by the extent of the service rendered. An indolent, inefficient, or spendthrift landowner should rightly par the same taxation aa another owner of land of equal value, and who is energetic, efficient, and carefuL . Whilst not wishing to raise the "town versus the country" cry, Sir, one caa hardly refrain from noting the differential treatment meted out by the Government. We have, to commence with, the 28 ncr cent, quota in favour of rural voters, which account* for at least five extra seats being given to the farmers at the expense of the cities. There is also the proposed derating of rural lands amounting to £290,000, the grant of £100,000 to supply cheap fertilisers, the various subsidies for pork, apples, etc., the grants m aid ot agricultural colleges and -experimental farm*, free railage for lime, etc., and many other grant* of like nature. To conclude the list of. benefits, it is now proposed to give farmers unlimited cheap labour, partly at the cost of the cities, and partly .at the coat of the unfortunate workers involved. It seem* to me, Bir, that there is a grave misapprehension in the minds of many as to the nature of democratic oriliKd life. Granting the reality, of th« principle* of «quality of opportunity and the equal rights and duties of men, men wfll Mtnrallr di*po*e el thansdm rato them Bailing* and occupations be* imitjd, to their nature and powers, and at the gam* time giving them the highest return* for their labour; all attempts on the part of Government* to coerce or entice men to thi* or that occupation are mischievous a* well aa nnjust. They are mischieyou* becaus* men know their self-interest better than any Government can tell them. They are unjust because to entice men to follow any particular calling, Government* must bribe them at the expense of those in all the other occupations. The free niay of «conomie force* is the only «a» £vide in these matters, and all that Government* need do is to maintain the equality of onportunity by granting free access to land by means of land value taxation, and by removing all restriction* and hindrance* to trade and industry such- a* ara embodied in the iniquitou* Customs taxa* tMm.-I sm. etc., H.a.ooesß.