The Unearned Increment in Victoria.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6268, 15 July 1890, Page 3

The Unearned Increment in Victoria.

In introducing the Railway Construction Bill to the Victorian Parliament, Mr Gillies said that in the existing Railway Construction Act provision was made by which Parliament could take at a reduction land which had been enchanced in value by the construction of a railway. In one case the reduction was made but on an appeal being made to the Privy Council the judges were of opinion that the clause giving power to make the reduction was not sufficiently clear. In order, therefore, to put the question beyond doubt, he had made provision in the Bill by which an owner of land whose land is increased in value by the construction of a railway is entitled to pay something to the Government in consideration. The Age points out that Mr Gillies is adopting the principle of a “ betterment tax,” which has been in operation in America for a long time. The principle has attracted considerable attention in England during the last few years, and has formed the subject of an interesting controversy in the column of the head English journals. This tax is the special assessment of the expenses, or a part of the expenses, of special improvement, and on the ad joiningproperty which is specially benefited by the improvement, and the underlying maxim of the law is that he who feels the benefit ought also to feel the burden. Mr Gillies, in effect, proposed to ask Parliament to enact that where railway lines pass through large holdings the owners shall contribute a portion of the enhanced value of the land resulting from the construction of the railways