Taxation.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 44, 5 April 1884, Page 6

Taxation.

I Lax* Whkx the burden of taxation per head of population in New Zealand is compared with the rate in other countries, as is very commonly done, full allowance should be made for the charges which are laid on the Colonial Treasury in New Zealand, but in England are made local charges. At the present time considerable agitation is going on in London relative to the extravagance of the London School Board. The rate levied for the current year is a fraction under eightpence in the pound on all property within the metropolitan district. The Board last year expended nearly a million and a-half sterling, and only £100,333 of it canie from school fees, and £190,000 from grants from the Council of Education. The sumof £685,610 was raised out of local rates, and a larger amount will be required in 1884. Of course there is a vast work to be done. There are 298,991 children on the rolls of the Board Schools, and there are 58,743 school places maintained. But it is complained that the taxpayers have not only to teach the children of the poor, but to maintain extravagant official staffs ; a proposal to create a superannuation fund for retired officers of the Board was only defeated lately by a majority of two. The Board is elected every three years; nevertheless it seems impossible to keep its expenditure under control. Other boroughs in England are charged at a higher rate for school purposes ; — a shilling in the pound being a not uncommon figure. Now, this tax, which falls directly on property, is not accounted for in tho returns which are published occasionally to the disadvantage of New Zealand, where education is a charge upon the Colonial Government. Another serious item, which in England is met by local taxation, but falls immediately upon the local ratepayers, is the maintenance of a system of charitable relief. The poor rate of England averages 10s 6d per head of the entire population. Then there is the expense of magistracy and police. The cost of police alone in England in 1881-2 was £3,264,337, the greater portion of this amount being raised locally ; the city of London (that is the small central area) paid t'33,653 out of local taxation for this purpose in 1882, besides £7,119 for the administration of justice (criminal), and £1,333 for coroners' expenses — all of which are colonial charges here. It is by no means an uncommon thing to see New Zealand quoted as the most heavilytaxed and debt-laden country on the globe ; but if the local and general taxation of the country were lumped together, it is extremely probable that the average would bring out a very different result. At any rate, these facts should not be lost sight of. It has been the endeavour of successive Governments to shift a portion of the general taxation on to the local bodies, and a section of the property interests are in favour of attempts to move the incidence of taxation for educational purposes from the Colonial Government, in order to relieve the property tax. The outcry in London should act as a salutary warning. The relief would only clear the way for some new extravagance by the Colonial Parliament, while the burden of educationmustalsofall on property in another way. The proportion of revenue raised directly from the wealthy of this country is a mere bagatelle compared with the share for which they are assessed under the national and local taxation systems of England.