LOWER HUTT RATING

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 59, 7 September 1945, Page 6

LOWER HUTT RATING

CIRCULAR TO VOTERS

A poll of ratepayers is to be held in Lower Hutt tomorrow, as the result of a petition to the City Council, on a proposal to rescind the basis of rating on the unimproved value. A circular has been issued, addressed to all ratepayers, setting out "relevant factors in respect of the three rating systems"—on capital value, unimproved value, and annual, or rental, value. A footnote to the circular states that it is "issued in your interests at the personal expense of sitting council°lt' is stated in the circular that the council has thoroughly investigated the three systems, and strongly recommends voting for a changed system, advising the adoption of the rental value basis. It is argued that the present basis, unimproved value, has become obsolete in Lower Hutt and •in many other places where land is no longer held for speculation and has been in force long enough to compel subdivision. Rating on the annual •value, it is held, places the burden generally on those most able to bear it, and in relation to hospital rating, levies the charge where the cost is incurred. The present system was adopted at a poll in 1921, when the' number who voted was 89.