FACTS FOR REFLECTION

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8187, 31 July 1912, Page 4

FACTS FOR REFLECTION

That the people of New Zealand have Increased the land values of this country by .£126,625,160 in 19 years from 1891 to 1910. That 22,500 families have monopolised £114,275,745 of this. Increase, while a much larger number got none, but have bad to pay increased rents on account of increased land values. That the president of tho Farmers' Union says tho inventors—and not the people of New Zealand—have created a good part of the increased land values. That the president deserves thanks for his frank acknowledgment that the value has not been created by the landowner. That the landless people of New Zealand have as good ‘a moral claim as the landowner to participate in the land values created by tho inventors. That a tax on land values, with a remission of Customs and reduced railway fares and freights, would bo a gain, to inearly every bona fide farmer. That three out of every four landowners of New Zealand own less than £560 worth of land value each, and would benefit considerably by substituting land values taxation for Customs and heavy railway freights. That .£80,000,000 more than was required for ordinary Government purposes has been, collected during the past nineteen years. That a largo proportion of this £BO,000,000 has been taken out of tho pockets of the landless people of this country, who could ill afford to pay it. That the wholo of the £80,000,000 has been, put into tho pockets of the landowners by means of public works, which have increased their land values. That the present Customs tar is a poof man's -tax graduated the wrong way. It amounts to 3s Gd in tho £ on a salary of .£l2O a year, and only id in the £ on an income, of £IO,OOO a year.