PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9118, 28 July 1888, Page 5

PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT.

A reporter of the Herald, meeting the Mayor, Mr. A. E. Devore, yesterday morn-

ing, made reference to the paragraph in our Wellington despatch in yesterday's issue, relative to the property tax assessment. The paragraph stated, that in reply to a question put by Mr. Goldie, the Premier had replied that it was intended to bring in a Bill this session empowering the Government to take borough valuations as the basis of assessment in such districts for property tax purposes, and that it was calculated that some £5000 could be saved by such an alteration. In reply to the reporter's query, as to what he thought of the idea, the Mayor said : It is in efrcct what he and Mr. Goldie talked about before he went down to Wellington, and it would, if carried into effect, do away with an army of valuers who were paid directly by the Government. As everybody knew, some of these valuators were indirectly interested, and naturally biassed in consequence. The borough valuations were made public, and every opportunity was given to the owners and occupiers to object to the valuations in the Assessment Courts. Under the present system of Government valuation the valuator's, or owner's opinion, is the basis of the valuation, but in the borough valuations a very different state of things prevails. There the. basis is stated in the Rating Act of 1876, and under that Act the ratable value means the rent at which the property will let, after deducting2o per cent, in the cases of houses, buildings, or perishable property, and 10 per cent, in the case of land, but the ratable value shall be in no case less than 5 per cent, deduction on the value of the fee simple. Everyone could see at a glance that such a course would be a wise one, and would effect considerable saving. The sum of £5000, estimated to be saved, he did not know how it was arrived at, and thought it was given as being a convenient figure to use more than conveying any definite or clear idea of the saving. There were 76 boroughs in the colony, and if the Government dealt with Road Board districts in the same way, and he saw no reason why this should not be done, there, was a considerably larger number of country district valuators than borough valuators. If this was done, then the savins: would be very considerable, and the idea, the Mayor considered, was an excellent one.