FARMERS’ BURDENS.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17661, 12 August 1929, Page 4

FARMERS’ BURDENS.

The idea that only a few people will be affected by the new burdens placed on farmers is fallacious. It might be observed in passing that the emphasis laid by Ministers on the fewness of the persons injured by those proposals lends colours to the charge that the Government was emboldened to pursue the course it has taken by reason of the lack of voting strength of its victims. But this apart, the effect of the injustice done must be widespread. In many cases where the equity held by the farmer is small, or comparatively small, the mortgage exemption reduction plus the penal super-tax may tip the balance against him and spell ruin. Losses of this nature injure others and shake or destroy

credit in farming securities. A moderate increase of taxation on farming interests at the preent time would have been bad enough, but a penal tax which doubles between land values of £12,500 and £30,000, regardless of all considerations other than the nominal value of the land, is liable to do incalculable harm. The Minister of Lands says that

what is being’ done is merely “a little reminder,” a gibe well calculated to further shake the confidence of the farming community as to what is to follow.