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New Zealand Mail, Issue 545, 15 July 1882, Page 17

The proposal made by the Colonial Treasurer in his circular to local bodies, and alluded to in the Governor’s speech, to utilise the property-tax valuations for the purposes of local bodies,- has now been formally submitted for the consideration of Parundoubtedly praiseworthy, namely, | the prevention of a great waste !of money caused by a multiplicity of valuations, and the relieving local bodies 1 of an expense which now presses heavily on their slender revenues. But while all persons will cordially admit the wisdom of a measure which would thus greatly lessen both trouble and cost, there are many who may nevertheless reasonably dissent from the suggested modus operandi. With these the question is this : Should the property tax valuation be made available for the purposes of local bodies, or should that made by local bodies be utilised for the purposes of the property tax? This alternative question we propose to discuss without prejudice, and solely with the view of pointing out what, in our judgment, would best serve the ends of sound economy, and prove most satisfactory to the feelings of the colonists. If our experience of both the land and the property tax, as administered in the past, is at all to guide us, we must candidly admit that the proposal to employ the machinery of the Property Tax Department to promote the ends of of local bodies fails to command •ur sympathy. The land tax .was levied at an enormous cost to the Treasury, and in such a high-handed manner, in respect of valuation, as to create a wide-spread feeling of irritation throughout the country. The department in charge thereof—consisting of a chief commissioner, six deputy commissioners, and an army of assessors, and clerks—contrived since 1879 to increase the revenue by nearly £150,000, at a cost of about £40,000; anl had the assessment been made two years later, the amount, in consequence of depreciation of landed property, would not have exceeded £60,000 a year, or £90,000 for the eighteen months the tax ex-

isted. This tax was superseded by the property tax, when the. Deputy Commissioners were multiplied, and another valuation resulted, and though the Hall Ministry doubtless issued instructions that fair valuations were to be made, yet there were numerous instances in which these were excessive, and were maintained with the same inflexibility that upheld the land tax valuations. This assessment cost the country £16,000, and a considerable sum for clerical assistance, in addition to the expens* of a departmental staff of from forty to fifty men. This tax, besides being less costly and more impartial in its operation, has been attended with better financial results than the land tax, having realised about half a million during its two years’existence. In consequence of the scheme of retrenchment inaugurated by the House of Representatives, a number of clerks, and all the Deputy Commissioners — except the Deputy for the Wellington District were dispensed with, and all the work of the department is at present carried on from Wellington. It is, accordingly, to this centralised department that the work of the general assessment for both the Government and the local bodies is to be intrusted, and, judging from past experiments and the impracticableness of the undertaking, we fear that it will prove a failure, that the result will be unsatisfactory both to the Government and the local |bodies, and that the attempt to carry it out will inevitably be attended with an extravagant expenditure which had better be saved to enable local bodies the better to overtake the works theyaie severally charged with.

The commendable desire of the Government in connection with this pro posal is, we take it, to propitiate, as well as relieve, the local bodies, at the same time that they forward the interests of the general revenue; and, this being so, the Colonial Treasurer has an alternative scheme before him which, while fulfilling that desire, will suit admirably for both these purposes, namely, employing the local bodies to do the work of valuation, instead of the Tax Department. . Section 10 of the proposed Act gives to local bodies the option of doing this, but, for sake of economy as, well as the popularising of the measure, it were better to adopt solely the principle of local valuation. No practical difficulty can attend this plan, as the local bodies can easily be instructed to shape their respective assessments so as to answer the purposes of the property tax; while,’ besides thus getting the work of their own assessments done free, they would be able to perform the property tax assessment more efficiently than could be done under the other scheme, and at onehalf the expense to the country. On this point Mr Sutton, than whom few members in the House have more experience in such matters, in speaking to the Address in Reply, said, “ I think the scheme of having one valuation under the Property Tax Act for the purposes of Road Boards, County Councils, and Corporations will not work at all. It seems to me there are no bodies so well fitted to get these valuations done as the local bodies themselves. They know more about them than a Government officer residing in Wellington, and can much more easily check these valuations. If we can give the local bodies some control over the valuations, I think, possibly, one valuation might please all i parties. What we want, and what we would be satisfied with is, that the County Councils should do the valuations. We have been enabled in Hawke’s Bay to get it done very cheaply—for something like half what it has cost the Government, and I think the valuation is much more reliable. We cordially endorse these statements, and trust their importance will be duly considered before the new Rating Bill is passed. As illustrative of the practical superiority of the system above advocated, let us glance briefly at the way in which local bodies now carry out their assessments. With the aid usually of members, a rate roll is made out by one of their officials ; by this official, or the members, every property in the district is known, every change in ownership or value is noted, and the roll is always kept up to date; so that there is very little examination or revision necessary at the time the rate is struck. By such a process expense is reduced to a minimum, the assessment is correctly made, and, when there are complaints or appeals, they are easily settled at the local Assessment Courts. If, however, the assessment were taken out of the hands of the local bodies and carried on by the department in Wellington, the

case would stand very differently. There would simply be, as in the past, a gigantic and unwieldy system, which will never, with any degree of fairness or satisfaction, accomplish the end in view. If the local bodies were, on the other hand, employed to make the assessment, they could supply the requirements of the Property Tax Department, and, at the same time, complete their own rate rolls. They could also inform the department as to changes of ownership—a work which, if the department is charged with the general assessment, and has to correct and keep up the local rolls as well as its own, can only be done at an immense cost. The schedules, moreover, requiring statements of property could be distributed by the local body valuers, and be transmitted by the property owners under cover to the office at Wellington, as was done, in the former assessment, to the offices of the Deputy Commissioners ; and appeals could be settled in the usual Assessment Courts without any interference by the Property Tax Department, as the appeal would not be from the property tax assessment, but from the assessment of the local body. It will be noticed that the principle here advocated is that of utilising as far as possible existing institutions to economise the public funds and further the interests of the country. And the advantages of its working cannot be put too strongly. Nothing can tend more effectually to remove from the minds of the people the dread which they have of the creation of vast official departments; while it gives a pleasing prominence to that local government which they have an instinctive craving for, turns local bodies into hearty contributors to the efficiency of the General Government, furnishes remunerative employment to the agents of these bodies at the same time that it relieves the poorer districts of an expense which they are ill able to bear, and thus helps to diffuse a feeling of satisfaction among the whole body of the people. Nor ought it for a moment to be supposed that entrusting the work of assessment to the local bodies would be likely to induce an undervaluing of property to the prejudice of the general revenue. In a table annexed to the Colonial Treasurer’s Financial Statement of last year, a comparison is made between the valuations of the Property Tax Department and those of the local bodies for the purposes of local taxation, and the difference is very small indeed, the annual value of the property tax assessment being estimated at 14£ years’ purchase, and that of the local bodies at 15. At the same time it is to be remembered that if the assessment were entrusted to local bodies, aa on the score of equity and expediency it ought to be, the economy of the Property Tax Department would be greatly furthered. The work of that department would then resolve itself into making a Property Tax rateroll for the colony from information supplied by the local bodies, and rendering accounts for the tax, &c., and it is needless to say that in this way alone a considerable saving to the colony would be effected. It deserves to be noted, in concluding, that it is of infinitely more importance to the country that our local bodies should be kept in healthy efficiency, than that any rigid theory about the working of the Property Tax Department should be adhered to. The tax on property may not be a permanency, whereas the institution of local government evidently, must be so ; and it is better every way that the chief consideration of the Legislature should be bestowed upon that which is destined to abide. The two main objects to be kept in view in the next assessment are fair and just valuations, and the most economic method of arriving at them ; and we venture to say that, looking at this question in its various aspects, and especially in its relation to the subject of local government, the local bodies are the proper parties to carry out these objects to the best advantage of the colony at large.