THE NEW TAXATION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1814, 22 July 1891, Page 5

THE NEW TAXATION.

At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Farmer*' Co-operative Association, the Chairman (Mr Enaor) made the following > trenchant remarks on the financial pro- ! posals of the Government :— We must all 1 admit that the initiation of the frozen meat ; industry is due almost entirely to the capital 1 and enterprise of our large landholders and | our shipping companies. The small farmers 1 were powerless to run the risk of guaranteeing freights, so as to warrant the shipping companies in incurring the great expense of 1 fitting out the necessary steamers, etc. This frozen meat trade has brought millions of pounds into the country, and has provided profitable employment for thousands of workmen, and I am sure I may say that, but for the help of this industry, New Zealand would have drifted from bad to worse, in place of improving her position. Yet, gentlemen, at the present time we have a Government in power seeking to inflict vindictive taxation on our large landholders—a taxation which is openly avowed to be but a first step towards bursting them up and confiscating their property. It ia stated that these large landholders are blocking settlement ; but I think that a little consideration will show that they are, with few exceptions, profitably occupying our land, and affording work for thousands of country settlers. Land settlement and capital in this country must work hand in hand. We all know how dependent even our old-established farmers often are on the work they get from the enterprising landholders to help them along. There are millions of acres of Government land said to be fit for settlement still unoccupied, and in nearly every district thousands of acres of land are being offered for sale at very low prices ; in some cases, with fencing buildiDg improvements on them, at a less cost than the original Government price. It is settlers of the right sort we want, men of capital and experience, and there is land in plenty waiting for them. Settlers of this class, with something to lose, cannot be induced to come to this heavily taxed colony so loDg as the people in the towns are continually seething and agitating to lift the burden of taxation from their awn shoulders and place it on the country industries. We farmers have paid our property tax cheerfully, because we know that the necessities of the colony demand it, and because we look upon it as a fair tax to which all contribute according to their means. In place of this simple property tax, which we all understand, and on the basis of which our bargains and agreements have been made, it is now proposed to change to a progressive land and iccome tax, with an exemption on improvements up to L 3,000. An exemption such as this will, as it is evidently intended to do, relieve the buildings in town; but as for benefiting our farmers, either large or small, it is a mere jugglery of figures. The Property Tax at present presses but lightly on the struggling farmer, because the mortgagee and the present exemption clauses bear the greater part of the burden. Our richer farmers, who could take advantage of the proposed L 3,000 improvement exemption clause, will be caught again by the progressive tax on their land. Even supposing some of our richer farmers could get off rather lighter than before under the present Government proposals, I am sure they are the very last men to> wish to shift their fair share of taxation on to their neighbors. Following the true bearing of this 1.3,000 exemption clause still further, we find that the town buildings practically belong to the mortgagees, and that these mortgagees are in very many cases absentees, so that the effect of this clause will be to relieve the capital of the absentees invested in towns at the expense of the country employers of labor. The farmers may well ask why these changes just as we are pulling round the corner of our adversity. Why should our simple form of taxation be altered to a complicated system which will open the door to frauds- of all descriptions? AThy should it be altered to a system of progressive taxation which will crush out every spark of enterprise ? The first to suffer will be our country workmen, the very men who are now so hardly dealt with by our protective duties. I would here point out that the damage which will be done to our farming industries by adverse legislation of this sort must not be measured only by the additional taxation we shall have to bear. Confidence will be Bhaken, and as soon as our mortgages and loans have to be renewed we shall find that our securities are at a discount, and in place of reducing our rate of interest we shall have to pay more.