Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-08-28
THE AUSTRALIAN LAND
TAX SYSTEM
An Australian Editor Describes Its
Operations and Results.

s-'piAiaaipi VI tHe buthlll SluSit IaA
amendment, has been to considerable
! pains to inform. himself of the exaer
operation OF the Australian
single tax system. for which so much
is claimed. The result OF this has
been to convince him more thoroughly
than ever of the danger of adopting
this amendment in this country where
our methods of government are so diff.
terent from the crude systems in
| vogue in the southern continent II
/ also appears that the land tax is far
from satisfactory down in Australia.
/ and is an utter failure as producer
/ of revenue.
In April last Mr. Adams had some
correspondence with the editor of the
Bulletin OF Sydney, New South Wales.
ihe most widely circulated and mnuen-
tial newspaper in the Australian con
tincnt, He has permitted the Journal
20 print a letter received from the
financial editor, pcrusal of which
will readily convince the reader of the
inadequacy of the Australian tax sys-
TEN, even under their simple and
crnde methods Of administering gov
eminent, as compared with ours.
The letter follows:
Sydney, N. S. w. May 10. 1902.
Hon. J, D. Adams. Rico. Colorado, u
S. A.:
Dear Sir:-ln reply to your letter of
last month
Federal revenue here is derived
from customs. excise, posts and tele-
graphs. State revenues are mainly;
l) Revenues from state-owned rail
ways t2) Customs and eXcise-reve-
nues handed over by theNfederal gov
ernment after paying its own expens-
es, ca revenue from STATE lands; ca
income tax aud land tax. and miscel-
| laneous items. Out of the six states
of the commonwealth, four (South
Australia Victoria, Tasmania. and
New South Wales) levy land tax
South Wales charges I'D on the pound
G-4S0fh part of the value of the land)
on estimates worth less than E5,000
with n steady increase above that till
Il very large land owner is charged
, I'D ON the pound. 1t also charges an
extra rate on property owned by alb
sentees
In Victoria estimates of more than
$40 acres and worth more than 500
are taxed | q per cent on their value
In New South Wales the tax is Id on
the pound Q-240th of the valuel, on
all estates worth more than E2i0.
These taxes are levied on the value
of the land itself apart from buildings.
fences. and all Improvements, on the
unimproved order.
Tasmania levies ed on the pound
(l4S0th of the value of the land). on
the land and improyements-on the
whole real estate. New Zealand,
which is not included in the common
wealth. goes on the same principal as
South observation-disclosures value,
extra tax on large estates etc.
These land taxes are really only a
very small item in the revenue. In
1900 they yielded E7S2000 out of a
total revenue of over e35 900 900 for
all the states put together In
drought years it takes a very large
estate to come within the limit
Local government taxation in the
commonwealth is levied on land and
improvements. 1t is mostly derived
from tax on the value of buildings
So your party, which talks OF the Aus
tralian system. is quite wrong. In
New Zealand the local government
bodies may levy their rates either on
the land alone or on the land and i'm
provements. Most of them adopt the
latter principle. But the local govern
ment system differs wholly from the
one to which you are accustomed in
the United States The cost of main
tanning he poor is betrayed by the
state government. So is the cost of
schools In some states bridges and
roads are built and maintained by the
state government; in others the state
goy~nmcnt paws the county or shire
councils, or divisional boards, as they
are variously called. subsidies which
cover a large part OF this expenditure.
Tho state government builds court
houses, lunatic asylums and schools,
and maintains the police The amount
Of taxation levied on land is, there
fore. very small.
The simple explanation is that the
most of Australia is so barren. except
in the very rare wet years. that it
doesn't want any local government-it
would do better with IA new kind of
sand scoop to sift the sand drifts. The
other day a government mail coach
disappeared in the northern part of
South Australia-the horses broke
down in the middle of dry stage of
God only knows how many miles and
the passengers and driver perished
These parts are subject to land tax,
but nobody takes his life in his hand,
so far as ! know, to collect it. over
great part of Australia the artesian
bore sometimes strikes water; more
often it doesn't.
Yours Faithfully.
JAMES EDWARDS.
| Financial Editor
| The last sentence of the foregoing
bat one. shows what the Australian
| land tax system is. 1t is applied to
worthless lands and no one ever tries
to collect it AT that The idea of sug