DEATH DUTIES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6996, 9 December 1909, Page 8

DEATH DUTIES

On the motion of the Prima Minister the Dwtli Bmties Bill was recommitted to consider further amendments of which notice had been. given". On the emotion of the Prime Minister clan6o 12 was amended in the direction of making it perfectly clear that the limitation, of exemption was .£SOO. . In section 14, paragraph 3 of subclause g was made to read:—By which the deceased has reserved to himself the right, by the exercise of any power to restore to himself or to reclaim that property or tlio proceeds of the sale thereof; or acquires by inheritance from the deceased an estate tail forming part of the dutiable estate of the deceaesd; or who has become entitled to any property forming part of the dutiable estate of the deceased as a beneficiary under any gift or donatio mortis causa made by the deceased within three years before hi* death.

Clause 25 was amended to provide that if the full amount of death duties is not paid within three months after notice, or within such extended period as the Commissioner thinks fit to allow, there shall be added by way of penaliv a further sum equal to 5 per cent, of the duty so unpaid, and the additional sum shall be deemed to be estate duty or succession duty as the case may be, and shall be chargeable and recoverable accordingly.

A new clause 29a was added providing that as between successors death duties a.rp to be paid by each successor in proportion to the value of his interest In section 59, stipulatinfr that gift duty is to be deducted from death- duty payable on tho same property, sub-olaus© 2 was amended to read: Every such deduction shall be made in the first place from any suooeEeion duty payable in jesaect

of that property and thereafter, as toj the residue, from the estate duty. i Clause 83 was amended to read:—The! enactments mentioned in the second'' schedule hereto are amended in the' manner therein indicated, but no such amendment shall affect the operation, of 1 tho said enactments with respect to the: estate of .any person who h;u> died before the commencement of this Act. Considerable debate ensued over a new: clause .which the Prime Minister desiredj bo add to section 12a. The reason for-' the clause was, he said, to prevent estates being willed entirely to the widow for tho purpose of escaping the duty: payable, as had been done m the past.; The sub-clause agreed to read as fol-lows:—-in the case of any estate, thei final balance of which does not exceed' ten thousand pounds, the value of any' succession {within the moaning of part! 11. of this Act) acquired by the'wife of tho deceased in respect of his dutiable! estate shall, to the extent of five thou-! sand pounds, but no more, bo deducted' from tho final balance of that estate,'; and estate duty shall be payable on thei residue only. The rate of estate duty! so payable on the residue shall nevor-l tneless be determined by tho total! amount of the said final balance with-j out any such deduction as aforesaid. . A iiew clause 6'G was inserted detail-! in - the procedure for tho valuation of land for the purposes of duty under the Act.

the Bill was reported as amended. Air James Allen, on the motion for thol third reading said tho legislation was! i, n c ■ f lTectloll which should prove; beneficial.

Mr.Ma.ssey said he agreed with the principle of death duties so long asi they were moderate and reasonable. The; ±Si 1, however, would, he thought, pro-' vide a tremendous amount of work for : the lawyers, and tho dividing line between taxation confiscation was vervi slight where the big estates were con-i cerned. ,

, M JI G. Laurenson (Lyttelton) remarked that Mr Massey's complaint was not so vigorous as was being heard in En"- ] . and P lst at present. As a matter of tact, the Bill reduced taxation, on the smaller estates and placed the extra burden on the class most able to bear it. Other speakers commented upon features which have been fully described in the committeo reports. In replying at the conclusion of thai lengthy discussion which took place,! tho Prime Minister paid particular at-, tention. to what had been said respect-, ing the exemption of widows. A great deal of nonsense he said, had been talked about it. There had been a lot of talk about the way in which the widows; were going to be affected, but he conldl not seo where it came in at all. In, support of his contention he quoted fig-i uros showing the very small number of widows who would be affected. They were, not proposing anything under the Billj that, could in any way bo regarded as! unfair. There was no warranty for thei suggestion that plunder was intended.! So far the law had been distinctly against the people of moderate wealth, and in favour- of. those who - died-'leaving large' fortunes. The Bill was read a third time and passed.