THE LAND TAX. INTERVIEW WITH THE PREMIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8727, 18 November 1891, Page 5

THE LAND TAX. INTERVIEW WITH THE PREMIER.

MR. BALLANCB AND THE economist. BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. Wellington, Tuesday. The Hon. Mr. Enhance was good enough to grant me an interview this morning. I ventured to ask him questions in respect of tho political prospects of the colony in tho light of the criticisms which are made upon the new taxation. I found him prepared to express his opinion of the somewhat drastic criticism which his fiscal and land proposals have net with in and outside of the colony. Ho appeared to speak without reserve, and he allowed me to take a note of our conversation. You will observe that he speaks with thorough confidence in the ultimate success of his proposals, and that he i* ready to fight for thorn to the end.. The following are as nearly as possible his words: — "No doubt people giving at home will objeot to graduated taxation, and to a tax on absentees. In any other respect capital has not been in»any way assailed; on the contrary it) will be protected under our system of a land a"« income tax. The capitalists might) veil complain of confiscation of capital under the property tax, which required its pound of flesh whether the institution was making money or losing it ' Under our system they will only pay ''hen they are making money, and then tho' will only have to pay a reasonable amount, which they can afford to pay. A graduatd tax on land is a distinct quostion of i plicy, and on that we are prepared to fi;ht to the end. VVe believe that the eonomic effect of ib will be to remove depession and send tho colony ahead by whit is now beginning to take place, the others of large estates going on to subdivision. If a row people or companies should withdraw their capital they cannot do it without proper notice and it will take tiic«to do it. In that case the effect of subdvision will very soon be so marked in tto colony that the prosperity superinduce by it will far more than compensate fee any punishment the capitalist or capitflists can inflict. The banks are in no tay alarmed except on account of tho large properties tlioy hold, but the action of th< 13ink of New Zealand the other day in telling the East Coast property they held for ii'W.OOO and upwards is at once an indication jiow tho colony will be benefited bysucb institutions ceasing to hold land in large treai The issue is now plain before the country. Are those great estates to remain unproductive and untaxed, or are they to bo settled, mado productive, and consequently to yield their share to the revenue of tao coaony ? When they shall have boon settle! and made productive, they will have t| pay less taxation than the same areas sipuld be liable for if they h.-id remained unproductive, and consequently lost to the calony. The journal that taken the lead 6s the expositor of financial questions in Jngland is undoubtedly the Economist.) It recently had an article on the new system of taxation which is proposed to be inaugurated. In that article it has blundered net only in mere matters of detail, but in the fundamental principles of this lundand income tax. It has blundered from beginning to end. It states, for instance, that the graduated land taxis on the improved ialue, whereas it is on the unimproved value. It says that an estate £210,000 will proluce 4 per cent., and that 4 per cent, is the amount it is taxed. What is essential to state is that an estate of £210,000 would be worth, with improvements, with the stock upon it, and so forth, £300,000. The graduated tax will fall on the less, not on the greater, imount. In a number of matters besides th»3e I have mentioned this financial journal has blundered egrcgiously. When misrepresentation has been cleared away, the fill) removed from the financial eye 3 of this authority, I have no doubt that the justice ad equity of the tax will be better appreciated than ib is at present. But after all, is the colony to govern itself, or to be atehe mercy of a number of financial rings ii London? Is this a self-governed colony,* not? That is the question which has to be determined, it would seem, in devising!* system of taxation that shall be suited p the wants and circumstances of the colon .