Taxation in Nezv Zealand 37 



reduce rents. Oppresses holders of land unsuitable for building. 

 Discourages land speculations. Reduces number of vacant sites." 

 In reply to the writers' circular the answers were, in brief : "Dis- 

 courages speculation in land. Forces people to sell private gar- 

 dens and other land. Has increased prosperity, causing a large 

 increase of building and influx of population. Has not unduly 

 stimulated building, but there is danger of this. Is hard on the 

 farmer. Differential rating should be allowed. It has made land 

 cheaper and easier to get. The majority are eased and therefore 

 satisfied. The minority feel the additional burden." 



A number of people in New Zealand, particularly the followers 

 of Henry George, give a glowing account of the success of rat- 

 ing on unimproved values wherever tried. The Hon. George 

 Fowlds, Minister of Education, holds that the land taxes, both 

 general and local, have been among the chief causes of the pros- 

 perity of the Dominion during the past ten or twelve years. Mr. 

 Ell, M. H. R., is strongly in favor of the new system, and would 

 have water rates, gas rates, and all other rates, general and spe- 

 cial, levied upon the unimproved value. Mr. George Laurenson, 

 M. H. R., said in the House : 'T can assure you that the rating 

 on unimproved values system will yet be adopted by every mu- 

 nicipality in New Zealand. In the next ten years it will be 

 adopted in connection with every class of rates that may be levied 

 in this Colony." 



But the facts do not seem to warrant optimistic conclusions 

 such as these. The benefits of rating on unimproved values are 

 not so obvious as to command unanimous approval or to persuade 

 all the rating districts to adopt it without delay. The opposition 

 to the system appears to be growing stronger as people are com- 

 ing to recognize its relation to the propaganda for single-tax. 

 The small landowners like to shift the burden of taxation from 

 their own shoulders to those of their wealthy neighbors, but they- 

 are strong supporters of freehold tenure and will not readily con- 

 sent to have their property confiscated by any radical extension 

 of the principle of taxation of unimproved values. 



The growing political power of the laboring class, for whose 

 benefit much of the recent legislation of New Zealand has been 



