THE NEW TAXATION.

Wairoa Bell, Volume IV, Issue 151, 24 June 1892, Page 5

THE NEW TAXATION.

Addressing his constituents recently on the Government taxation proposals Mr. A. Saunders said .• — He would begin with his own farm, and it was only lately that he had become a small landowner. Ho was very fairly assessed, and if he had to pay next year under the old property tax it would amount to £3 10s lOd, whilst under the new Act he would not have to piay one farthing. Then he found on going to better land than his own, reclassing- the unimproved value for eighty four acres at £lO per acre, under the property tax the owner would have to

pay £2 9s 2d and under the land tax only 4d. Again, a farm of 150 acres of which the unimproved value was £6 per acre and improvements £lO per acre, under the land tax £1 13s 4d. Going on to a still larger farm of 600 acres, he found that under the property tax it would pay £l7 Is Sd and under the new tax £ls. Then they came to pretty near the mark, for in a farm of 3300 acres he found that £154 3s 4d would be paid under the property tax and £145 12s 5d under the new tax. "With regard to a farm of 20,000 acres, valued at £lO per acre, the new taxation began to tell. Under the old tax the owner would have to pay £997 18s 4d. and under the new tax £1833 6s Sd, or just double, and if land belonged to an absentee, instead of that amount he would have to pay £2260. Therefore, they would see what was the matter with those who wrote so much in the newspapers about the land tax and their obj ections to the present Government. The following is a further comparison :

The inevitable result of such taxtion is to force a division of large farms, and there are scores of cases in this colony where the farmer has a number of grown-up-sons but instead of cutting the property up and giving the boys a start in life, the father hangs on to the property till the last, but if he were to cut the property up the sons could never wish him dead.

Farm of 100 acres, at £10 an £ s. d. acre Deduct £300 improvements 1000 0 0 and £500 exemption. . 800 0 0 Paid under property Tax. . 2 1 8 Will pay under new Tax. . 0 16 8 Farm of 200 acres, valued at Deduct £600 improvements 2000 0 0 and £500 exemption. . 1100 0 0 Paid under property Tax. . 6 5 0 Will pay under new Tax. . Property of 1000 acres 3 15 0 worth 8000 0 0 Deduct £3000 improvements 3000 0 0 Paid under property Tax . 31 5 0 Will pay under new Tax.. 20 16 9