FARMERS AND TAXATION.

Southland Times, Issue 17732, 9 August 1917, Page 5

FARMERS AND TAXATION.

To the Editor. Sir,—l should like, Sir, with your kind permission to draw the attention of farmers to the new taxation proposals contained in the recent Budget. It is extremely difficult to arrive at any exact amount, but from what I can-make out from the figures given the farmers are in for a bad time, especially the freeholder, and more especially the freeholder with a large mortgage. According to the old system a farmer with a mortgage was allowed to deduct the amount of hia mortgage before he was taxed. Now the Budget proposes to tax a farmer almost independent of his mortgage. For example, if a farmer has laud of unimproved value to the extent of £SOOO, and has a mortgage of say £6OOO, then he will have to pay land tax on the full £SOOO, which will be somewhere about £SO. Then if he happens to make an income of say £IOOO, which is not likely under these conditions, he will be called upon to pay over £9O in income tax. That is he is called upon to pay almost as much taxation as if be had his land clear of mortgage, while the man who owns the £6090 mortgage, th* money lender, pays only income tax. They try to blind the farmer by saying that they are taxing or conscripting wealth. Are they? Again, the man that invest* his money in business is called upon to pay only income tax, whOe the farmer has to pay double, land and income tax. Thei* great cry is for more people to go on to the land. I say that their system of taxation is driving people off the land. My contention is this: that if a man has to pay land tax and income tax then tfao amount be has to pay in land tax should be deducted from the amount of his income tax. Surely that is only a fair proposition, and would put the man that invests his money in land on the same footing as the man that invests his in business, or who lends it out at interest. I. should like to say also that I consider it quite unjust and very bad policy to levy such heavy taxes on land and income. They tell us that this is the best way to tax wealth. I say that it is not taxing wealth at all, but is a tax upon hard work and thrift—two things that the Government should strive to encourage, while the amount proposed to be collected from unessential industries is so small that it cannot be counted. I consider that the Farmers’ Union should do something, and I propose that a huge meeting of fanner* should interview Sir Joseph when he come» down South.—l am, etc., FARMER. Winton, 7th August.