The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-03-22

the lana naDoDS OF the United states,
to corporations and individuals who
own their thousands of acres. who con-
troll vast tracts of pastures or who man
age the bonanza farms of the great
Northwest:
How would you like to have your
lands at the mercy of the Government,
to be compelled to sell them at 10 per
cent above the valuation you enter them
for taxes, and to pay such taxes upon
them that you will have to cultivate
every part of them to make them a
paying investment?
How would you like to have your
taxes increased in proportion to the
extent of your property, so that they
will be proportionately double or treble
those of the small holders about you,
and if you live outside the state in
which the lands are situated so that
you will have to pay 90 per cent more
than any of the people who live on
their lands?
That is the way they are doing things
in New Zealand.
Here are some questions for the small
property holders, for farmers who own
lands worth less than $500:
How would you like to pay no taxes
erty. or, If the property is valued at
less than $500. no taxes whatever?
How would you like to have all your
improvements deducted from the as
sessed valuation and the tax merely
laid on the land as it was when unim
proved?
How would you like to pay only on
that part of the land which you really
own, the amount of your mortgages
being deducted from the tax valuation
to pay, in fact no tax upon anything
outside the unimproved land you have
paid for and your income, and this in
case the said income annually amounts
to more than $1,000?
That is the way they do things in
New Zealand.
Here are some questions for those who
have no land at all
How would you like to see the big es-
tates of this country taken possession
of by the Government and redistributed
in small sections to you at cost on long
time at per cent interest?
How would you like to have advances
made to you for building your house
and fencing your land and the terms OF
payment made so easy that you could
either pay for the whole or have 1t on
lease at this low interest for 999 years,
the rent not being raised, no matter
how much improvements you put on
the land in the way of cultivation, fer
tilization and buildings?
That is the way they are doing some
things in New Zealand.
SOCIAL PESTS
The above are among the curious
features of New Zealand's land system.
The New Zeaanders do not believe in
large holdings, and they are doing all
that they can to have their country d.
vided up into small farms. They call
the large land holder social pest,
and scruple not to tell him that they
will be glad to have him leave the
country. They tax him in every way
possible to get him to leave, and If he
is an absentee, living in Europe or
elsewhere, they so pile on the taxes
that he has to sell.
At present absentee property owners
are charged 20 per cent more taxes
than those living in New Zealand ana
the taxes rise in proportion to the
amount of land one man owns.
Everything is done to encourage
small farmers. The man whose income
is less than $1,000 year goes scott
free paying no taxes. He whose farm
is worth only $500 is exempt, and II
his estate Is worth $500 he pays taxes
on only 5000 of it's valuation. The tax
is assessed on the unimproved valua-
ton The man who takes poor farm
and brings 1t up to a high state of Gull
tiyation pays only on what the land was
worth when he first plowed it, and his
buildings and improvements are only
taxed through the income which they
bring him when this is over $500 per
annum.
The rich man pays increased taxes on
his land, on his income, on everything.
Take the land. His tax is levied on
it's unimproved valuation and this tax
is increased according to its value. II
his farm is worth more than $4,000 ne
gets no exemption whatever. After 1t
reaches the value of $4,000 there is no
deduction of the mortgages upon 1t, ana
from then on it increases at the rate
of an eighth of a penny in the pound
until it reaches a maximum taxation
of two pence per pound, which is pay
able only when the value is a million
dollars or more. He pays an increased
tax on his income. The man who has
only $1,000 year pays no taxes what
ever but the man who has up to $1,000
above this pays six-pence to the pound,
or 21s per cent and a man whose tax
able income is more than $1,000 pays
per cent This does not seem a great
deal without you figure 1t up.
Suppose your income was that of a
Congressman; you would pay 2h per
cent on $1,000. less $500 or Ss7 income
tax. II you were one of the justices of
the Supreme Court and got $4,000. you
would have to pay per cent on the ex-
ira 5000, making your taxes 1927, and
II you were one OF our big trust mag
mates, with an income OF Sl,0OO,0o0
year, your taxes would closely approx
mate $4,000 and II you lived In New
Zealand you would have to pay them,
1t is safe to say that such men In the
United States do not pay half as much