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Land Tax Proposal
Widely Resented
SYDNEY, Tuesday.-The proposed State land tax was
condemned in both State and Federal political and primary
producing circles to-day.
The State Parliamentary
Country Party Leader (Mr.
Bruxner) said it was outrage
ous, and the Federal Navy
and Air Minister (Mr. Mc
Mahon) described it as "dJs
criminatory."
The State Minister for Lands
(Mr. Hawkins) said legislation
for the introduction of a grad
uated land tal in New South
WVales probably would be sub
mitted to Cabinet at its next
meeting.
The Acting Premier (Mr.
leffron) said the Government
proposed to bring the legisla
tion down during the present
session of Parliament.
It is understood that the in
troduction of the tax will
affect about 2000 to 2500 hold
ings, representing between 28
million and 30 million acres of
land,
'Aid Settlement'
iMr. Hawkins said the land
tax would not be made retro.
spective. The primary aim was
to promote closer settlement
and increase food production.
The legislation would pro
vide liberal concessions to
stud farms to enable them to
improve flocks and herds.
Application of the tax in
rural areas would depend'on
the improved capital value of
the land, and not on the size
of the holding.
There was no doubt that the
legislation would help to keep
land prices at a more realistic
level and would be helpful in
acquiring land for soldier
settlement, Mr. Hawkins said.
Preparationt of the bill in
vol'ed much work and Cabinet
Ilad not yet consideried how
much the Government hoped
to raise from the tax.
Mr. Hawkins said the Gov
ernment had spent £24 million
on the war service land settle
ment scheme since its inception
in 1946. In this period about
2200 soldiers had been settled
on thie land. The Common
wealth Government had con
tributed about £800,000 since
the scheme began.'
State's Task
"The new larid tax will pro
vide, funds for soldier and
civilian closer settlement antd
promote private subdivision for
settlement," Mr. Hawkins said.
"Rural development thirough
closer settlemnent is one of our
most urgent needs. It is ob
vious, in the experience of tile
past two years, that the State
will have to raise its own funds
for this work. Thie Common.
wealth Govenlment, despite its
respdnsibilities for rehabilitat
ing ex-servicemen and for
rural developmncnr to meet the
flood of postwar ,nmigration.
has hamstrung State rural de.
selopment by restrictive loan
policies."
Mr. Hawkins said there wasi
a very strong demand for land
settlement. int. New:. South
\Vales. Tllh StatbGovernnmentr
was faced.with tile prospect of
either letting.closer settlement
die' for lack of money. when
it w'as urgently neededl or of
raising money specially for the
task. Cessation of closer
settlement, with all that it
meant in rural development
and food production, would
be a tragedy.
In his Address-in-Reply
speech in the Legislative As.
sembly to-day, Mr. Robertson
(Labour, Dubbo) said th~ pro
posed legislation would protect
the small and individual farm
er. It was aimed at big land
holders .who were not putting
their properties to any use,
but were merely squatting.
"From one end of this State
to the other you will find
scores of acres,not owned by
people in this country, but by
people overseas," Mr. Robert
son said. "I think the land
should be forced out of them
by taxation or by other
means."
C.P. Hostile l
Mr. Bruxner said to-day
hat the Country Party vould
esist lthe tax to the utmost.
It was'outrageous that the
Government should now decide
to jump in' with a~ ncw lannd
tax just when the Federalland
tax had been abolished.
It was hypocritical :humbug
for the State Government to
talk of encouraging primary
production and closer settle
ment \w'hile levying a new tax
that mtinst. raise costs, and
which was payable without r.
gard to whether the landowner
imade a profit. s
Tite Country. Party was
strongly in fivour of closer
settlement, and had carried on
avigorous policy of Irrigation
and subdivision when it was
in power, Mr. Bruxncr said,
but a punitive taxation as a
means of.forcing closer settle
mcenlt was both ineffective and
unjust.
Tile fact .that the proposed
tax was to be Icvied on town
antd city as well as country
property showedl that tie
Cahill Government's chief mo
tive was'to wring more rev
enue from the State.
"Labour has grossly mis
managcd State' finances, Mr.
lruxner added. "It has frit
tered away tens of millions of
increased funds, and now
Iandowners in city and coun
try are to pay the penalty.'"
In the Legislative Assembly
to-day, Mr. Hunter .(Lib..
Croydon) said the effect of
thie Government's land ta?x
proposals oil thie New South
Wales export trade could be
utterly disastrous. Its effect
on primary industry, nod al3
in thle big cities would be ter
rific.
While one Government' was
striving to cut down on the
rising cost spiral, another
Government Ihad decided to
tiax a sector of the commun
ity. If.the Governmenttaxed
primary producers, a rise .in
the cost of food wvas inevit
able.
'Discriminatory'
..Thlie Minister for the Navy
end Air (Mr. McMahon) said
to-day. that it was no use, the
Federal Labour Party talkitig
about rcduccd taxatioji wheli
the Staite Governlenl increas
ed taxution whenever the op)
porlunity occurred.
TThe proposed land tax was
discrimiatory.
The Labour Party wasgrad
ually talking and legislating
itself out of any.prospect of
winning the ntixt Federal glece
tion.
The President of the Grae
ifers' Association -(Mr. .T, G.
Carter) said to-day the land
tax was a money grab. It was
humibug for the Government
to suggest that the tax would
hasten closer settlement.
The Secretary of the Retail
Traders' Association (Mr. J. B.
Griffin) said that if the Gov
ernment genuinely intended its
proposed land tax as a means
of achieving closer settlement
it obviously would exempt all
except .ruminl prbperties.
"It is apparent that the Gov
ernment has no intention of
doing that, and the only:con
elusion is that the proposed
tax is a thinly disguised money
grab," he added.
Sir Henry Manning, M.L.C.,
said the proposed land tax
vould disrupt the Australian
economy. It would cause a
fall in the value of all estates
;nd would tend toward comrn
plete destruction of the pastor
il industry.
Hits Producer
Mr. Irvine Hunt, Vice
president of the Graziers' As
sociation of New South Wales,
said the tax would penalise
effic;ent primary producers as
heavily as those who had not
exploited their properties fully.
It would do so at a time
vhen the costs of rural produc
tion-were already too high antd
esponsible graziers and farm
ers were wondering how Aus
tralia was to increase, or even
naintain, her primary exports
n the face of increasing com
petition.
"As a means of hastening
closer settlement, the move is
completely unintelligenl," Mr.
HIunt continued. For every
property suitable for subdivi
sion into smaller units and
axed for the alleged purpose
of bringing, that subdivision
sbout there will be at least
nother, completely unsuitable.
but equally hard tit.
u'Mr. Heffron speaks of the
and tax as a means of bring
ng about the production of
nore food. It is much mnore
ikely to bring about the pro.
duction of less, particularly of
foodstuffs of the kind the
vorld is willing to buy from
us.
us'"The final abslurdity is that
the Government should onthe
one .hand be urging primary
producers to conserve and
build up their properties with
a view to making them tor
productivc, andt on the other
hand be taking actioi which
is going to upset land values
all over the country and dis
courage ail primary producers
from imnproving their areas."
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