THE TAX BURDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 36

THE TAX BURDEN.

A PEOPLE’S BUDGET. At a meeting of the Trades and Labour Council, field on the 13th. an address was ■delivered by Mr F. M. King, secretary of the Single-tax League, of Auckland. Mr King said the taxation levied through tl\© Customs for the year ending March 31, 1908, amounted to £3,103.565. Outpopulation is still under one million. It, therefore, amounts to a burden of over £3 per head, or £ls a year on every family of five persons. The total taxation has increased year by year, from £3 13s 3d per head in 1899, to £5 Os 4d per head in 1908. The total burden of taxation is, therefore, £25 a year on each family of five persons. The distribution of this tax burden is, however, very unfair. Tho heaviest taxation falls on those who are least able to boar it, and who cannot justly be called upon to pay it By taxation through the Customs the greatest burden falls upon the largest families, whereas under a fair system of taxation tho greatest burden would fall on those who receive the greatest pecuniary benefit from the expenditure of public money. A Government return (B 17a, i). 4) shows than the value of land privately hold is £100,000,000 (£100,252,247). This sum represents th.o capitalised value of the assumed right of the landowners to collect land revenue from the- whole people, but since the people themselves, landlords and landless together, all help to create this land value, it would be quite fair for the Government to levy a duty of, say, 2d in the pound on tho unimproved value of land. This would absorb about oneseventh of the land revenue of the country, and would yield about, £BOO,OOO per annum, and would only collect for public use a portion of that unearned increment which is every year created by the whole people. A Budget framed in the interests of the people as a whole must necessarily aim at reducing the burden of taxation through the Customs on all articles not produced in the Dominion, and increasing the duty on land values. Nearly £1,000,000 (£891.348), which becomes at least £1,200,000 by the time the extra cost reaches the consumer, is. nowlevied annually through the Customs in taxes on articles which, with perhaps some trifling exceptions, are not produced in New Zealand. This burden on labour could _ be thrown off at once, without interfering with the protection of local manufactures. It is proposed to abolish the duties

' (amounting (o £891.348) now levied on such' •roods, and (hat the deficiency thus caused should bona do up by":-—lncrease of land lax, 2d in the pound on the unimproved, vain:! of all estates of over £2OO, £792,000; increase of income tax on unearned incomes, £50,000; increment duty on unimproved value of all laud on death, sale, or transfer by owner, £50,000; death duty on, all estates over £IOOO, £25,000; —total £917,000. The unimproved value of the freeholdland in 1902 was under 71 millions. In. 1906 it had i icreascd to over 100 millionsThe* unearned increment is therefore increasing at She rate o: about seven million pounds a year! The taxation for last year on drapery, hardware, and tobacco alone amounted to more than half a million pounds. These are practically among the most absolutely necessary requirements of every household, and the .tariff on them is a direct and unfustifiab.le tax on the necessaries of life, h urging this proposal on the attention of the people it would be well to point out that the increase in the purchasing power of present wages that would result from the saving of more than a million (now added to. the cost of these articles by the tariff) would be equivalent to over £1 per head, or £5 per family, of the whole population. This would be equal to an addition of 2s per week to the purchasing power of each family, and therefore equdva’isnt to an actual rise of wages to that extent. It would also tend to increase business and facilitate all the minor industries which depend on the cheapness of the numerous small items now rendered artificially dear by the tariff, and at the same time, by checking land speculation,.it would promote the beneficial occupation of land. About 30 per.cent, of the landowners would have their aggregate taxation reduced by this change. The remaining 20 per cent, (who own more than their share' of landvalues) would certainly find their share of taxation largely increased. But this increase would tend to cause the subdivision of large estates and the closer settlement of the- people on the laud. “Following-,” said Mr King, “was a list of goods and' - duties paid thereon during the year ending December 31, ISOS, taken from Government statistics for 1908, Part II:

At. the conclusion of the'address a lively tiscussion ensued, and a. hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mir King.

GrS n-er cl Pref. Ta ■iff Tairi ff. £ £V d. £ s. d. Acctio acid 2,991 ii 3 Bagging- & sack ing ... ... 571 c 0 Baskctvvare and wic-korwar-e 1,462 17 0 546 Q 2 Beverages, coffee essence ... 2.152 8 11 Blacking 4,077 17 1 10 10 0 Black lead 1,048 8 0 3 8 0 Blue ... 1,-122 19 0 0 0 2 Carpeting and druggeting 13,799 17 2 _ China, porcelain. and pariamvare . 8.753 3 ,1 1.448 12 3 Clocks 4,115 0 11 1,874 13 0 Cocoa and chocolato 6.905 14 8 448 5 8 Combs 1.369 12 1 308 15 10 Butter & cheese cloth 353 8 0 Drapery 59.9C8 2 9 B-a.k; n g p o-w d-sr. etc. ... 253 12 0 0 2 0 Medicines, drugs, etc 29.872 15 5 2,103 7 3 Earthenware 20.540 17 5 1,036 9 5 Fancy goods and toys 49,240 16 10 11.509.2 9 Floor cloth and . oil, cloth 24 '656 8 5 Flour 14.506 7 10 1 15 5 Mirrors & look-ing-gLasses 2.290 11 6 148 1 6 Plate glass 2.472 12 6 150 2 & Glassware ... 8,564 1 3 3,412 4 7 ■Hard ware a nd i roiuir on s*ery 88,874 6 11 8,898 18 6 Musical instruments— H a.r mo.n i unis & organs 1,226 0 9 226 0 0 Pianos 21.220 4 10 5,492 16 3 U n en umer a ted 3,205 11 11 1,155 2 7 Lamps, lanterns. & lamp wick 10,039 6 5 3.015 19 11 Nails 9.904 4 9 2,948 5 6 Oilmen’s stores 2.633 8 7 Paints & colours. ground in oil 7,303 5 0 12 15 4 Do. mixed readv for use 2.689 9 6 121 19 10 Pictures, oaintings, photos, etc. 2,257 9 1 Plate & platedware 17.961 5 2 397 15 9 Starch 7.968 5 5 7 0 4 Sugar—-g I ucose 4.550 19 10 Tobacco, manufactured 1,976 8 0 Tobacco, iMimfactured, 3s 6d per lb 389,277 18 0 : _ Tobacco. maimfactured, S. Africa, 2s 6d lb 298 11 ? Pipes and cases Watches 7.534 4,405 9 13 4 3 1,213 3 0 Whiting and chalk 582 12 0 5 15 10 General tariff 844,497 3 3 46,850 18 2 trot, tariff 46,850 18 2 Total tariff ...£891,348 1 5