THU INCIDENCE OF TAXATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5164, 10 June 1891, Page 4

THU INCIDENCE OF TAXATION.

Ministerial ingenuity will not suffice lo adjust taxation equitably amongst thoso who ought to boar it, through the machinery of a land I'll, supplemented by an income tax Tho Stump Act will undoubtedly have to be amended m several, particuliro before the burthens will be fixed on tho right shoulders, und a considerable alteration must be made m the tariff, m the direction of remitting duties on tbo necessities of life so as to reduce the cost of living, the rovODUo thus parted with being made up m other directions. We h >.ye already, on more than ouh occasion, pointed out. that tho cost of education is oxoessive oad out of all proportion to the benefits ooqferrod on the p?oplo at largo. No scheme e£ financial reform will ever approach perfection which contemplates a continuance of this extravaganca. The land and |iccome tax- will not, we fear, sufficiently affect the class of absentees who draw large incomes from this . colony. Other monns will have to beresor- , tod to. The Stump Aot may be amended to j catch many of them. The succession iduties should bo rovisod and inoreasoH m several direotioD9,.and the expedient by wbioh these duties are how m some measures at times evaded. by Heeds of gift, executed when.death is approaohing closely, should be provided against, the stamp duty on mortgages where the mortgagee resides out of the colony - should alio bo mads, we think, considerably heavier than on mortgages where the interest . remains m the colony for use or re-investment. The difference of interest between what can be obtained m England and what ia paid m this colony is so groat that we do not believe a differential stamp duty would m the slightest degree operate m reduction of the amount of foreign capital seeking investment m the colony. The drain of interest on private indebtedness to foreign lenders is scarcely -less a serious- drawback to colonial 'prosperity tbftn tho drain caused by payment of the interest on the publio debt. One form , of investment which absorbs a largo amount of colonial capital m a comparatively uhpro- ' ductive and undesirable manner might also be . subjected to a higher rate of stamp duty than it now is. We allude to fixed deposits on interest m the Banks. The amount bo deposited is botween eight and nine millions, and only a penny Btamp is required on the document acknowledging the receipt jf each , deposit, however large. A specinl rote of ' stamp duty, graduated according to amount, might very fairly be levied, and, indeed, we do not see why a graduated rate of stamp duty should not bo applied to receipts generally, according to amount, as is now the case m regard to promissory notes and bills of exohange. An ordinary scale ranging from the present penny up to, say, a shilling would bring m a large amount of revenue, and not bo felt severely by anybody, a highor scale applying to deposit receipts m Banks and Loan Companies. The appointBient of a Justice of the Peace seems to be ' very eagerly sought for, and we fail to see why each new Justice's commission should not bear, say, a five guinea stamp. All other titular distinctions proceeding from the Crown are subject to certain fees, and pDrhap3 the imposition of a tax of this kind would tend to lessen the number of those anxious to bo enrolled ia the army of the groat unpaid. It is often objected that capital invested m shipping does not bear its quota nf taxation. If ships ownad m New Zoaland w«re taxed, it is said payment would be evaded by their being registered m some port where they would be untaied. This is no doubt true, but would not a penny stamp on all passeDger tickets issued m the colony reach shipowners, bring jn a considerable addition to the revenue, and defy evasion ? A stamp upon all totalieator tickets and a Coo on all lirvnses to boll art unions or raffles woulil alsu 0.-ing m some revenue without m voicing any cost of oullection. In the manner we havo here suggested, and by other mean* which could readily be deviaed, the reveaue might be largely and inexpensively augmented, and incidence of taxation would be much more fai'ly adjusted than it is if this augmentation were applied m reduction of Customs duties which tend to increase the cost of necessaries of life. A vast considerable amount of relief m this direction could probably ba afforded by the means we have indicated, and the prosperity of the country would be thereby increased. A matter of graver consideration is involved m the question which will m all probability ere long force itself on public attention, of whether the principal portion of the taxation of the country should continua to be levied on the six millions of imports which pass through the Customs annually, or wbetner the time has not oomo when considerations of public policy require that come toll should be levied on certain descriptions of exported produce, which go very largely towards making up the annual ten millions nt which our exports are valued.— (2o.it.)