THE LAND TAX.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5483, 13 June 1879, Page 5

THE LAND TAX.

The day when those persons fortunate enough to be liable to the Land-tax will be called upr>n to pay the small amounts due, is, like all days when accounts have to be squared and bills met, steadily approaching. At present the situation stands thus : Each person liable has received a paper, stating the net amount at which his property is valued. From this he has to deduct £500, and then by pertormiog a simple process in arithmetic, that is, counting at Jd in the pound, he can arrivo at the sum he will have to pay the colonial exchequer. But he doe 9 not require to put himself to this trouble just yet. This is the time for receiving appeals, which must all be lodged before the ICth June. So far as the Auckland district is concerned, the appeals as yet lodged are not very numerous. They may be divided into two heads—(l) that the properties have been over-valued, (2) that particular properties are set down as being owned by the wrong person. We observe that in the South, so sudden has been the decline in the value of property, appeals have been made oa the ground that although the sum fixed was right when the valuation took place, it is now very much over the mark. Some persons have indeed appealed against valuations made by themselves, on the score of the falling value o'. land. Such appeals cannot, however, be admitted for a moment. The taxation is levied on the valuation at a certain time. Nothing of thin sort has occurred in the Auckland district, butjwe are surprised to hear that some appeals have beeu sent iu on account of properties not having beeu valued. We did not think there were any peisons in the community so conscientious. But another sifting process hai to be gone through. The notices of appeal have all to be sent to Wellington, with notes and comments by the district officers, aud the commissioner will there decide whether ho will allow the appeal, and reduce the assessment accordingly. If that is done the Appeal Court will not be troubled with the case; but if not) the matter will come before the Judges of Appeal, who are the Judges of the Assessment Courts under the Rating Act of 1576, usually the Resident Magistrates of the district. The date for the sitting of these Courts is not yet fixed. It is believed that the results of the Appeal Courts will not much alter the estimate already made as to the amount to be received from the tax.