Taxation in New Zealand 23 



estates of deceased persons, which is high, rising to 13 per cent 

 in the case of large estates left to strangers in blood. The duties 

 are levied according to the following schedule : 



1. When the value does not exceed £100 No duty 



2. Upon any amount exceeding £100 but not exceeding 



£1,000— 



On the first £100 No duty 



And on the remainder 2 x /z per cent 



3. Upon any amount exceeding £1,000 but not exceeding 



£5,000 3% per cent 



4. Upon any amount exceeding £5,000, and up to £20,000. ... 7 per cent 



5. Upon £20,000 and any amount over that sum 10 per cent 



6. Strangers in blood, excepting adopted children 3 per cent 



additional 



Property left to husband or wife of the decedent is not duti- 

 able. The duties apply also to deeds of gift, so that persons of 

 wealth can not legally evade the tax by giving their property to 

 their heirs before their death. Such transactions are very care- 

 fully watched, and there is very little evasion of the duties, which 

 yield about £250,000 ($1,250,000) a year. 1 



It is impossible to estimate exactly the revenue derived from 

 stamp duties ; for in some cases, as in affixing stamps on receipts, 

 ordinary postage stamps are used, and the revenue from the sale 

 of these is counted as part of the revenue of the Post and Tele- 

 graph Department. 



The people of New Zealand are very much taxed, notwith- 

 standing the fact that the government carries on a number of 

 enterprises which one would think should yield a profit and so 

 afford relief from taxation. But these governmental enterprises 

 are not managed so as to earn profits, and in some cases they re- 

 sult in a deficit. The railway deficit for the year 1907-8 was 

 about £230,000 ($1,017,000), about twice the revenue derived 

 from the beer duty. The interest on the net public debt, that is, 

 the gross debt less the value of productive investments, was about 

 £1,000,000 ($486,000), more than enough to eat up the entire 

 revenue from the land and income tax. Then there is the sum 

 of £330,802, given to the aged poor in the form of pensions, which 



1 An Act to Enforce and Collect Duties on the Estates of Deceased Per- 

 sons, 1881. Amendment Act, 1885. 



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