THE LAND TAX.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5380, 13 May 1879, Page 2

THE LAND TAX.

THE New Zealand Herald saya : — " We believe the estimates made by the Treasurer'will not be so far out. He will not I get 1 the money so soon as he calculated, but the. amount will be somewhat above his estimate, viz.:— £loo,ooo. The expenses, of collection were set down at ' £10,00,0, but. they will amount, we be- j lieve, to about double that sum. The tax being novel, a good deal of expense was incurred, 'and;: about . £13,000 was ex pended on the,. valuation, which stands for three years. Otago paya between £32,000 and £33,000, and Canterbury about the same ; Wellington pays about £10,000 ; Nelson, about £5,000 ;. Marlborough, £4,000; Taranaki, £3,000; Hawke's Bay, £8,000; and the whole Provincial District of Auckland somewhat over £6,000," We do-not know what data the Herald has to go upon, but we very much doubt the correctness of its estimates. If some returns we have seen are anything like a fair sample of the rest, the cost of valuation and collection will be at least 50 per cent. In many instances the valuation, without the collection of the tax, has cost more than the amount which will be realised by the tax, and in the majority of country districts the excess over expenses -will be very small.' The land tax in its present form is excellent in theory, but does not work quite so well when put into practice. We supported and still support the tax as one fair in principle, and as a step in the needed direction of a change in the incidence of taxation, but in its present shape it is cumbrous and expensive in its working, and many anomalies and inconsistencies require to be removed ere it will become a satisfactory piece of legislation.