New Zealand Property Bate Ordinance, 1814.

It will be news to most people to learn that there once was in this Colony a Property and Income Tax. In 1844 the Legislative Council, then the only chamber, passed the Property Bate Ordinance, which repealed all Customs duties and provided for raising the colonial revenue by direct taxation. A portion of the preamble runs thus:—"And whereas the commerce, agriculture, and general prosperity of New Zealand would be greatly promoted by removing all restrictions on the free intercourse of shipping with its numerous ports and harbours, and to that end it is expedient that all duties imposed upon goods imported into the Colony, and all provisions made for the regulation and protection of the revenue of Customs by the said recited ordinances, should be repealed, and that in lieu of the said duties of Customs a revenue should be raised by rates upon property within the Colony; be it therefore enacted," &c. The tax was one on property and income, the latter to be the probable nett income for the year following the date of the return. Property included both real and personal, and it was to be assessed at its marketable value. When the value of property and the amount of estimated nett income reached £100, the tax was £1 a year, and £1 for each additional £100 up to £1,000. Any person, however, who had more property than this, or who did not wish to make a return, could compound by paying £12 a year, which seems to have been the maximum contribution. There was no secrecy in those days, for the collector had to post in some conspicuous place a statement of all returns made, and a copy was also published in the Gazette. By a special provision the property and incomes of aboriginal natives were exempted from the tax. A very short trial proved that this system did not answer so well as getting a revenue by Customs duties, and the Property Rate Ordinance was repealed in 1845. Probably the revenue derived was below the estimate, and the cherished idea of having all the ports of the Colony free had to be condemned as impracticable. The financial necessities of New Zealand in those days were not large, the appropriations made for 1845 being £25,672, while the then public works policy was thus provided for: "Public Works Establishment, tools and contingencies, £1420."

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