RATING PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 49, 27 February 1945, Page 7

RATING PROBLEMS

DEEARTMENT'S VIEW

PAYMENT OF SUBSIDIES

Many 'aspects of the Dominion's rating problems were dealt with by the Surveyor-General (Mr. F. H. Waters) in evidence before the Parliamentary ■Committee on Local Government yesterday afternoon. The /number of local authorities rating on the unimproved and capital value systems, from roils prepared by the Valuation Department, represented 93 per cent, of the total, said Mr. Waters. The remainder were mainly boroughs wiiich had elected to remain on th£ annual value system. It should be pqinted out, however, that even in those* districts the Valuer-General must} prepare and maintain rolls for land, tax and other purposes, It would therefore be seen that the Department had' an assessment for every separate property in the Dominion. While local authorities rating on annual value prepared their own rolls the^ did in many cases acquire a copy of i the Department's rolls for their own use.

Although no provision had been, made in the Act for an assessment of the annual .value by the Department, it icould, by a slight extension of the present system, also embrace this phase of; valuation" work. RESTRICTED SUBSIDIES. • If it were considered that subsidies oai rates should continue to be paid, a question was raised as to whether it would not be more equitable to pay such subsidies on all general rates coiJected. That would mean the deletion hi the clause providing that subsidies ■were not payable on rates collected in excess of a rate of 3d in the pound I capital value. That provision allowed I a local authority which was able to ■ carry on with a general rate of 3d or fless to obtain a subsidy on all general I rates collected, while another" local [authority which had, of necessity, to strike a higher rate, and was probably more in need of assistance, to receive a subsidy on a portion only of its general rates.' The maximum subsidy that might be paid in the case of a county was £2500 and for a borough £450. It might be held that there should be no maximum. Any alteration in that direction would considerably increase the total amount of the Government's liability, which today amounted to about £220,000 and was a matter which would mainly concern Treasury. The Department and local authorities had frequently had difficulty in deciding whether a property was rateable or not. The definitions of exempt properties should be more clearly defined and the exemptions granted by various Acts should all be consolidated in the Rating Act.

It had been the practice of the Department until 1923 to treat roading costs where land was subdivided into residential sites in all cases as part of the unimproved value of the land. It was held, however", in the Supreme Court that costs of development, such as roading, drainage, and water supply, were improvements and did not form part of the unimproved value. The Department found it impossible to apply that ruling- owing to the difficulty of determining, through the lapse of time, the party responsible for the •original roading cost. It therefore continued to follow ijg previous practice except in some cases where owners, including the State, claimed that such costs be treated as improvements. The Department's attitude could be justified, but undoubtedly an anomalous position had been created in some districts where it was found that land owned by the State similar in all respects to privately owned land had been assessed at a lower unimproved value. That matter was the subject of a remit at the recent municipal conference.

To remove that anomaly would require an amendment to the definition of "improvements" in the Valuation of Land Act, 1925, by way of a proviso to the effect that such improvements merged in the unimproved value upon subdivision and alienation of the land whether by sale, lease, rental, or other disposition;