HUH RATING

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 58, 6 September 1945, Page 8

HUH RATING

SYSTEM DISCUSSED

CASE FOR UNIMPROVED VALUE

! An interested audience listened last evening when Mr. P. J. O'Regan spoke in St. James Hall, Lower Hutt, in defence of rating on the unimproved value. Mr. C. H. Ham presided. Mr. O'Regan said that it was 44 years since he had spoken in Lower Hutt on the same subject, when a poll iof the ratepayers was pending. On that occasion they decided in favour of the system by 94 votes to 68. The figures indicated the marvellous growth of what was a small borough, which had since become a city. Usually the unimproved value was approximately nail me value of tne improvements, due in x-iOwtr hutt me unimproved Vaiue.was &,2fioo,ood, and tiie Vcuue Oi. improvements aio,oon,o i<j, maKiug tne capital vaiue 111 otner wuruss, the vaiue ux mipruvemtnts was tnree times xne uumiproveu vaiue, a xact wnien proveu uic irutu ne uau orien scatea —aiat thd taxation of tne unmiproveu vaiue ox lanu waa the best ierciiioer ever discovered iv mat it maae larms smne m tne country ana Duiiamgs arise 111 tne centres. 'a/racing tne history vi rating legislation, tne speaKer stated tnat, on tne j abolition 01 tne provinces 111 l&vo-io, • tne tii*st Rating Ace was passed, and it ordained only, tne annual vaiue system as it oDtamea today, in 18«2, nowever, tne legislation was consolidated and amended by the initiative of the Atkinson government, xne capital value j system was provided in aadition, and tne Premier, Major (.afterwards Sir Harry j AtKinson, denounced the annual vaiue system on tne ground | that it discouraged improvement, and added that all valuation should be carried out by a central Department. 1 As the measure was passed tne annual value system was left optional, and thereafter, generally speaking, that system obtained in ooroughs, and the capital vaiue in counties. SYSTEM LEGALISED. In 1894 the Seddon Government introduced the rating on unimproved values legislation, giving the ratepayers the right to demand a poll oh the question of exempting improvements. The Bill was rejected by the Legislative Council in 1894-95, but became law in 1896. The position today was that out of 572 local rating authorities, ' 228 had adopted the system, and, in fact, according to the Year Book, the-majority of the population lived where it prevailed. The number of local authorities rating, on the annual value had shrunk to 28, and, beyond question, if the system was not made mandatory, as it should be, it was only a question of tims when there would be but one system of local taxation in New Zealand. The Farmers' Union and j the Counties' Association affected to speak for farmers, but the fact remained that 59 counties had adopted the system, nearly half the total. It was true that the system had been rescinded in some districts, but in every instance sava two—Castlepoint County and Mount Albert Borough— the' system had been readopted, and rescinding polls were rare nowadays. The system was opposed, Mr. O'Regan maintained, because "it bit greed where it lived." One could understand all the puerile objections fifty years ago, but the system had well passed the critical stage. In the State of Queensland it had been 1 adopted by a mandatory statute in 11890. New South Wales had followed the example of Queensland forty years ago. In South Africa the system had been adopted years ago by resolution of the municipality of Johannesburg, and a few months ago Blomfontein had done likewise. Just before the war the London County Council had approved a Bill to place all the rates of the greatest city of the world on the unimproved value. Referring to the objection that the system benefited costly buildings the speaker contended that the underlying principle was that all taxation on earnings, great or small, were wrong in principle and contrary to public policy. FUNCTIONS OF CAPITAL. There was a fundamental difference between capital expended on production —the proper function of capital— and that expended merely in blockading land. In this connection he would mention that there had appeared in a recent number of the official organ of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce an article strongly in favour of rating on the unimproved value. He had called on the editor, Dr. E. P. Neale, to congratulate him, and that gentleman had replied that the chamber was apprehensive, because founders of new industries preferred to start in Wellington and its environs because of the light local taxation! Their opponents could not have it both ways, and he dared to say that the more costly buildings were erected the better for everybody. The speaker added that he agreed unreservedly that valuations should be more frequent. The Valuation Act, 1896, as originally passed, ordained triennial valuations. The chief grievance in Lower Hutt apparently was the disparity between the valuation of Government houses and the privately-owned properties. That was due to a Supreme Court judgment which had revealed a serious blot in the definition of improvements in the Valuation of Land Act. That defect should have been corrected by amending legislation long ago, but he read a letter from the Minister of Finance stating that such legislation would be passed this session. The speaker referred in strong terms to "the conspiracies against the hospital rate." and undertook, should a public meeting be called by its opponents, that he would reply, at another meeting. The chairman having invited questions, a long and critical discussion followed which indicated that many ratepayers felt strongly on the devaluation of State properties. The meeting concluded with a hearty vote of thanks to the speaker on the motion of Mr. Andrews. Mr. J. Williams, Main Road, Titahi Bay, fractured his right leg when he slipped and fell on the No. 9 platform of the railway station this morning. He-was taken to hospital by the Free I Amhulanno.