LAND AND LABOUR

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7851, 13 July 1911, Page 5

LAND AND LABOUR

DENMARK'S LLOYD GEORGE. ME MASSEY, DEBASE NOTE. [This column, weekly set aside for the discussion of land and labour problems, in edited by Mr Arthur Withy, general secretary of the> New Zealand Laud Values League, with whom alone rests nsponsioility for the opinions expressed therein,] Mr W. I*', Massey, M.P., may he interested, though he will hardly be plearned, to learn chat the Danish small tarmers. .vo recently eulogised by him, are persistent in their deutand for the *ni-gle-tax freehold. “A national eouverition of the owners of .small farms in Denmark, lias again,” says "0-he Only Way.” demanded, tlu* exemption, -of improvements and personal property from taxation and the substitution of land value-tax on.” Air Ko-edfc (formerly Danish Consul at Chicago) declares that “Jai-nd values taxation >s fast becoming one of the greatest national questions m Denmark,” and that this is so is borne out by the fact that M. Neergaard, Denmark s Minister of id nance, DcninarJc s Lloyd George as he might well bo called, is expending an appropriation, recently passed by both Houses and signed ,by the King, in making trial valuations of land in city and country places, so as to ascertain the best way to obtain a valuation of all the land, of the kingdom. Of course, the Finance Minister is not doing this for fun. His action points, indeed, to the adoption of the taxation of land valuers at an early date by .Denmark, the country par excellence of small farmers. New Zealand small farmers, Mr Alaswy. and all others whom it may concern, please note. AMERICAN CITIES STARVED FOR REVENUE. WHILE LAND MONOPOLY THRIVES APACE. THE REMEDY. How greatly public opinion ■in the United States in strengthening in lavour of the taxation of land values is shown by a speech delivered by Mayor Fitzgerald, of Boston, at a recent meeting of the Mayors' Club of Massachusetts. Mayor Fitzgerald declared that “Every city in the State of Massachusetts is borrowing money for current expenses at the present time. Tiler© is not a city in the State of any size to be oxcepted; even the State participates in borrowing money for street and road improvements.

SCHOOLS ARE RUN ON PART TIME in some cities, and in other cities the kindergartens have been abolished, while in others the high school course have been shortened because of paucity of funds.

"The drift of the population is toward the big cities, with the result of enormous increases in la-nd values iu the big cities, which .goes into the pockets of a few individuals with little benefit to the commtuJity.

"Forty-eight estates located cm Winter street, Temple 'place, and Washington street, which had a land value of 8,228,C00 dollars in 13S0, have a land value of 17,011,200 dollars the present jear; an increase of more than 100 .per cent., while the valuation iof the buddings upon this land has decreased from 1,072,800 in 1890 to 1,217,200 in 1910, a decrease of 2o per cent. In other words, the laud in this section of Boston, which is vested in . the .dead hands of corporations, trustees, and institutions, has increased more than . 9,900,000 dollar’s, while the buildings have shown a decrease of -100,000 dollars in value.

WHILE LANDLORDS REAP "TREMENDOUS PROFITS.”

"On Washington street, between Adams, square and Eliot street, there are about) 1&0 buildings; twenty of these have beem erected in the past twenty years, or: about one a year. In the meantime the* community has spent 15,000,000 dollars in subways alone, and this tremendous investment of the public funds has been) made without any encouragement on thei part of those land owners who, as these) facts show, have let their buildings run into decay while accepting tremendous profits from the community at large. ■' “On one block, in the most prosperous street in Boston, 12,300 dollars’ worth of buildings rest upon 103,200 dollars'’ worth, of land valuation.

"A 1,000,000 dollars building should be) erected upon this property, and this mils lion dollars, which would be largely labour, would be a great advantage to the community. Multiply this by hundreds of similar instances in Boston* und one realises the tremendous detriment to the working classes aside from, the community less that the failure! of a dead hand to properly appreciata its responsibilities means. * SERIOUS ATTENTION DEMANDED. 1

"It seems to me that the Mayors’ Club of Massachusetts, in view of the tremcn-1 dons demand which exists in every cityj m the Commonwealth for increased re-' venues, should give serious attention to the subject of taxation of the unearned increment.” RATING REFORM IN VICTORIA. OPTIONAL OR COMPULSORY? The "Herald,” Melbourne, of May 27th last, announced that “One of thei measures to be introduced by Mr Watt,) the Acting-Premier, into the Legislative, Assembly next session is a Bdl to pro-, vide for optional rating by municipalities on unimproved land values. In ox-< der fo strengthen the hands of the Govn eminent several municipalities and districts are discussing the matter.” Happily, there is a growing movement im favour of making the rating of land values compulsory, not optional. "A den putation from a~number of municipali-. ties and the Rating Reform League re-, cently waited on Mr Edgar, ActingMinister of Public Works,” says "Progress” of Juno Ist, "who said he was thoroughly in favour of the reform. He said he could see no reason to make the reform optional, and that to make it effective it should bo compulsory throughout. Mr Branagan (secretary to the Rating Reform League) said that his longue also took that view, as if it were left optional the reform was most likely to bo blocked iu the places where it was most necessary to bring it into operation. ” WHY NOT COMPULSORY IN NEW ZEALAND?

It is, surely, high time that rating on unimproved values was made ■compulsory in New Zealand. If not, why not?- To tax unimproved land values is simply to take public earnings for public purposes, and nothing could ‘be more just, right, and proper than that. To tax improvements, on. the other hand, is to penalise industry, and is to take individual earnings for public purposes, and that is sheer robbery. At present such robbery is tho rule and the just system of rating is the exception. Why not make just rating tho rule and the robber system -of rating (if allowed to exist at all) the exception? Why should it be necessary for the industrious classes to promote a petition and carry a poll to stop the penalising of industry, for tho ’benefit of the land speculators? Why not establish rating on unimproved land values throughout the Dominion; and, if any option is left, let it rest with the land speculators to get up petitions and carry polls, if they can, to exempt speculators and dog-in-the-manger landlords from local rates and load tho rates upon trade and industry? ARTHUR WITHY.