WAR TAXATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15886, 6 April 1915, Page 10

WAR TAXATION.

Sir,—l think the farmers are quite ] right in opposing an export and import tax. The farmers of Canada have pro- ! posed a more just and simple tax, one ! of 2 per cent, on the unimproved value ] of all land. Canada's position as regards the war is similar to our own, and therefore what they propose is worth considering. An ,import or export tax can ' be passed on to the consumers, many of whom have already suffered loss bv the war. High prices for produce add to the unimproved value of land, so that the fpeculator who allows his land to lie idle will benefit, and not being an exporter, he would receive a value without paying anything for it. Tho proposal to tax the unimproved value of land would hit him, and might be the means of a bettor use being made of his land, and this would be a benefit to the whole community. If the Farmers' tJnion can prevent an import and export tax being levied it will justify its existence. Xgaruawahia. Thomas Cabless.

Sir,—The advocates of the proposal to impose a special war tax upon the country settlers, on the ground that prices of agricultural produce are high, should remember that high prices do not necessarily mean an increased income. High prices of farmers' produce are generally accompanied by, and the result of, a short supply and poor crops. A shrewd old Northern farmer, who had noticed this, ha id, ' When there is any crop it makes nothing, and when it makes anything there's no crop." A poultry-keeper, who had had a similar experience, said rue. fully, "My fowls always give up laying when eggs' get dear."" A very cursory examination of farmers' return's in this province would show, that so far from their average incomes being higher than last year, they are considerably lower, The high prices of wheat is no' help to farmers in the North, who cannot grow it, owing to the scarcity of labour. The present price of butter will not compensate for the heavy drop in the yield per cow, owing to the drought. To the settlers who have had hundreds of sheep burnt in their wool—one Dannevirke settler lost 1400— and had to sell their Jambs at any price they could get, because they had nothing for them to cat, it is poor "consolation to be told that they must pay a war tax for 15 year? because wool was" high in 1915. So far from being a good year, to many the past has been a most disastrous * one. Some have had to give up their farms and seek other work. Pew people realise how poorly the average farmer is remunerated, though he works early and lato tor seven days in the week. No official statement of their returns has been made in this country, but careful investigations have been made in the United States, where conditions are similar to our own. Return? from 5436 farms in one of the leading dairy counties in Massachusetts, showed that tlie total farm income was not paying 5 per cent on the capital invested.' In other words, the average total farm income was about 5s per week less than 5 per cent, interest on the average investment per farm. I have good reason for stating that many are doing no better in this province. And it is these poor, struggling settlers the city people are proposing to tax for the next 15 years to pay for the war. No wonder the farmers are saying bitterly " For years the city people 'have been increasing the price of everything we have . got t« buy, and now they want to reduce the price of what we have to sell. It's poor policy to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.' A Bon of the Soil.