“SOUND AND EQUITABLE”

Evening Star, Issue 21819, 7 September 1934, Page 12

“SOUND AND EQUITABLE”

UNIMPROVED RATING SYSTEM FURTHER ADDRESS BY MR O'REGAN Terming it the “soundest and most equitable system of rating,” Mr P. J. O’Regan addressed a meeting of Anderson’s Bay ratepayers in the Cameron Hall ; last night on the subject of ‘ Unimproved Rating.’ There was a satisfactory attendance, and after listening attentively to the speaker many asked questions, these being answered by Mr O’Regan. Mr W. P. Herbert occupied the chair and introduced Mr O’Regan as one of the greatest authorities on the question of rating. He bad come to Dunedin, said Mr O’Regan, in response to an invitation from certain citizens, and his purpose was not to attempt to dictate to the people in a matter that was perfectly simple in itself, but rather to expound principles of taxation and to answer inquiries, not omitting misrepresentations., He explained that when he was in Parliament some years ago at the age of twenty-four h© then fought for the Unimproved Value Bill, because he was convinced that the system was sound. Taxation was often referred to as an evil, but it was one thing that was most necessary, and whatever was necessary could not be evil. He had observed that some of the mayor’s critics had rebuked him for partisanship., “ Now I want to he frank,” continued the speaker. “lam a partisan—a most intolerable partisan. 1 am implacably and irrevocably opposed to monopoly of laud>, because I regard it as the fundamental scourge of civilised society everywhere.” The most odious person, he said, was “Mr Facing-both-ways,” . as depicted by Bunyan, and in the face of a great primary wrong there was no room for compromise. There was absolutely no argument against rating on the unimproved value, and he invited his hearers to note that their opponents were mostly “ men in masks ” —that was to say, men who'wrote anonymous letters ’to the Press. No truth was more obvious than that the unimproved (or community) value of land belonged by natural right to the community, and there was but one method of asserting and securing that right—by the lawful use of taxing power. Mr O’Regan admitted that he was and had been for a number of years a follower of Henry George, who would have no income tax, no sales tax, no Customs duties ; no unemployment levy, none but a single tax on the unimproved value of land, with the result that, apart from improvements, land would have no selling value whatever. Land, let it be borne in mind, was not wealth at all, but was raw material whence all wealth was produced by labour. The ownership of land, however, conferred upon the landowner the power of commanding wealth —other people’s;wealth—and-hence one saw so-called civilised society divided into classes. This evil, as well as the innumerable evils growing out of it, could be got rid of only -by taxation. The whole principle was involved in the issue now before the ratepayers of Dunedin.

. Wealth was produced not by politicians,. but by the ordinary and unobtrusive labour of the people, and the true principle of taxation was to leave to every man the product of his own labour; What were called improvements comprised portion of the wealth of the people, and the very best incentive to make them was to untax them. The great majority of ratepayers were improvers, hut there was in every community a minority- of non-improvers, and the outstanding merit of the system the speaker stood for was that what was called the “ rate burden ” would be transferred for all time from the improvers to the non-improvers. Every ratepayer would still continue to pay rates as previously, hut for the first time in their lives improvers would be relieved. ,

Dealing with the statement that there were few, vacant sections in Dunedin, Mr O’Regan said that the area of the city was 14,570 acres, and in round figures there were 15,000 dwelling houses. ; of which 4,249 had four rooms, 4,844 shad five rooms, 2,521 had six rooms, and 1,184 had seven rooms. -From these figures would be realised the class of people who would be relieved- of taxation by the exemption of improvements—the majority of the ratepayers, who for years had been presenting the richest men in the city with an annual dividend. While they could not. get restitution for the sums wrung from them in the past, they could, and he hoped and believed they would, emphatically refuse to continue the dividends any longer. ■ A vote of thanks to the speaker was proposed by the mayor (Rev. E. T. Cox) and carried by acclamation.