PENAL TAX

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 July 1923, Page 3

PENAL TAX

ON UNIMPROVED LAND Imposition of a tax on land which has not been improved formed the subject of a statement issued from the Prime Minister’s office recently. “It is not an unusual experience to find new legislation hastily condemned from want of knowledge of its operation and intention,” said the statement. “An instance occurs in regard to the provision in the Land and Income Tax, 1920, which imposes certain penalties in regard to land tax upon land which has not been improved. This provision is embodied in section 6 of the Act. An Oamaru paper has been the chief complainant in regard to this enactment. It quotes the case of a holder of 9000 acres of low-quality land, who, upon complaining to the Land and Income Tax Department that he was penalised under the clause stated above (whereas his land was incapable of carrying the improvement required) was notified that he would be relieved of such penalties. The paper added: ‘While this is not at all satisfactory to the property-owners, it is a clear admission that the penalty has been imposed without sufficient investigation being made.’

“The position in regard to this new law was clearly set out to the Sheepowners’ Federation by the Commissioner of Taxes last week. The letter explained that the Department accepted the Valuation Department’s data in regard to the improvements effected. Every landowner (the law applied to all lands outside boroughs) bad been given notice of assessment in cases where the figures showed that improvements we'.e not in accordance with the requirements of the Act. It was then the duty of the taxpayer to write and state the facts of the case, and the appeal would be treated upon its merits. The law distinctly made provision for this appeal, and the notice of assessment sets that out.

“The Commissioner at the conference mentioned above said that he wished to give careful consideration to all cases in which owners were of opinion that their properties were sufficiently improved. The whole object of the provision in the Act was to avoid remission of taxation and to impose land tax on land which was being held purely for speculative purposes and without improvements being effected.”