Untitled

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 835, 11 July 1871, Page 2

TflE question upon which the M'Culloch Ministry in Victoria had to give way to Mr Gavan Duffy and hia colleagues "was the proposal of the former to levy a property tax. On examining the financial condition of the colony it was found that there would be a

probable deficiency of revenue to the extent of £300,000, of which £IBO,OOO were to be derived from additional customs imposts, and the balance from a tax on property, which they were of opinion would be the fairest and the easiest to collect. All property of less than £25 annual ratable value was to be exempt, and above that sum was to be subject to an annual tax of two and a half per cent. The main ground of Mr Duffy's opposition was that the proposed tax would press unduly upon industry, and would not reach the persons who really enjoyed the rents and profits of property. "While the settler would be taxed in accordance with his improvements, the owners ot large tracts of land would enjoy comparative immunity. The settler, who really made the land valuable, and who in other ways contributed to the income of the colony would feel the full force of the tax, while the landed proprietor who contributed scarcely anything to the revenue, and who bided his time for the ordinary progress of the country, the increase of population, and the State expenditure in public works and railways to improve his property, would pay only a very small sum. Mr Duffy proposes to meet the deficiency in the revenue by imposing a stamp duty upon the transfer of property, and a taxation that shall be especially derived from the banking and mercantile interests.