878 REPORT—1896, 
The proper principle of contribution is therefore not the communistic one of pay- 
ment according to ability, but the joint-stock principle of payment according to 
share or interest. 
2. Some Observations on the Distribution and Incidence of Ratesand Taxes ; 
with special reference to the transfer of charges from the former to the 
latter. By G. H. Buunpen. 
Expenses of kinds formerly provided for by the levy of rates are now met by 
the imposition of Imperial taxation to the amount of 8,000,000/. (including 
1,000,000/. transferred by the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896). Who gains by the 
Spas ai reduction of the rates, and who loses by the corresponding imposition 
of taxes ! 
Calculations have been made which show that the payers of Income Tax con- 
tribute 29 per cent. of the rates as occupiers of houses, and 31 per cent. as 
ced SER and consumers ; or 6/)-per cent. in all. Non-payers of Income 
ax are shown to pay 32 per cent. of the rates as occupiers of houses, and 8 per 
cent. as property-owners and consumers; or 40 percent. in all. Ofthe rates levied, 
12°6 per cent, are borne by certain kinds of real property, 12-1 per cent. by some 
forms of personal property, and 75:3 per cent. by the community as occupiers and 
consumers. Much of both real and personal property does not contribute. 
Of the Imperial taxes levied, 3 per cont. is borne by real property, 10:4 per 
cent. by other rateable property, 16-2 per cent. by non-rateable property, 5:5 falls 
on the earnings of personal exertion, as such; and 64:9 on the consumers of taxed 
commodities. One-half of the Imperial taxes are contributed by the classes who 
fall below the Income Tax standard. 
The transferred charges prior to 1896 are held to have fallen equally on the 
payers of Income Tax and the consumers of tea, coffee, cocoa, and dried fruits. As 
between those who pay Income Tax and those who do not, the shares of the burden 
remain practically unaltered. But those of the former class who own rate-bearing 
property gain largely at the expense of those who do not; and the share of the 
latter class is less evenly distributed among its members, to the disadvantage of 
the poorer of them. : 
The Agricultural Rates Act reduces the quota of the rates borne by real pro- 
perty from 12°6 per cent. to 75 per cent. The cost of the transfer falls upon the 
whole community. 
3. Proposed Modifications of the Rating System. By W. H. Smirn. | 
The changes in local taxation usually proposed involve financial questions that 
are matters of controversy ; but the rating system ought to continue in some form 
the main source of local revenue, and it is probable that many grievances alleged 
against it can be mitigated by modifications of the system which may be viewed 
as the development, rather than the supersession, of the broader principles upon 
which it rests. Thus, it should be observed that the primary question arising 
is one between the persons interested in competing properties, and not between 
those who are variously interested in a single property. Changes, mostly unfore- 
seen, occur in the relative values of properties put to similar uses. These changes, 
which necessitated ‘ reassessment,’ speedy in their operation, demand that reassess- 
ment be associated, not with ‘an equal £ rate,’ but with a rate which, ceteris paribus, 
would vary more widely than the rateable value varies. ‘To the grievance of the 
ratepayer as tradesman, there is added his complaint as private householder. As 
such, he occupies property whose value depends much on the building as dis- 
tinguished from the site. Moreover, as one descends socially, the demand for 
house accommodation becomes ineffectual more rapidly than the demand for other 
comparative necessaries. It is to be considered whether this is in any measure a 
result of the present distribution of local taxation. A question also arises as to 
the effect, as regards the individual ratepayer, of the subsidies received by local 
authorities in the shape of profits from undertakings, 
