120 LOCAL TAXATION 



In both instances, it will be observed, the case is taken of a person 

 who is at once owner and occupier and pays rates directly. In 

 both instances, also, the rate in the is assumed to be that at 

 which the average was calculated in Mr. Fowler's Return on 

 Local Taxation (168 of 1893). It will also be observed that 

 although B.'s rates are 4s. in the , as compared with A.'s rates 

 of 2s. 3d.. A. pays more than five times as much as B. It may be 

 rioted that if B. were a tradesman resident in the same parish 

 as A., his rates would only amount to 3 7s. 6d. 



13. In connection with the question of local rates upon " land," 

 there is one point which cannot be ignored. It has been urged 

 on high authority that rates upon " land " are to a certain 

 extent not clearly denned an " hereditary burden," and there- 

 fore inappreciable and irremovable. We desire emphatically to 

 protest against this contention. Suppose that a parish has been 

 subject to rates since the days of Elizabeth an Elizabethan 

 house in the same parish will have been equally so subject. 

 Why should the rates on " land " be styled " hereditary," and 

 therefore no burden at all, whilst the rates on. the house are to 

 be regarded for ever as a burden ? Why, again, are not taxes 

 of long standing, such as the Income Tax, equally " hereditary ? " 



14. We dispute most strongly the view that any rate or tax, 

 however long it may have been imposed, can become a fixed 

 charge by prescription. A tax or rate does not cease to be a tax 

 because the requirements of revenue necessitate its long -con- 

 tinuance ; and however long it may be continued, those who 

 bear it have the right to demand its readjustment when any 

 change in the conditions under which it was imposed makes its 

 incidence unjust. It is hardly necessary to observe that, when 

 the present system of assessment to local rates became fixed, 

 the conditions as regards agricultural land were greatly different 

 to those which now prevail. 



15. It will no doubt be alleged that the rates in the are no 

 heavier now than they were twenty years ago, but, even if this 

 be true, it in no way gets rid of the present glaring inequality 

 of taxation on land as compared with personalty. 



16. The truth is that the whole existing system of rating is 

 wrong. Rates, such as those for poor, police, lunatics, roads and 

 education, are levied on real property alone whereas they 

 benefit the whole community, and should either be directly paid 

 by the nation, or if it be thought advisable still to continue 

 local administration, and to maintain the method of a local rate 

 this rate should be levied, as originally proposed under this 

 Act of Elizabeth, on all inhabitants according to their ability. 



17. Several methods of dealing with the difficulty have been 

 and might be suggested. For example : 



(1) Seeing that the relation of the value of real property 

 to that of all other property assessed to Income Tax is as 

 2 to 5, and that at present realty is bearing the whole sum 

 of 16,692,531 (par. 8), a fair adjustment would be that 



