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W'v--"----?--------_r_ --"'w. N THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1919 ® The Government Will Never Consent to Checker--board System Says Sir James. SELECT COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER IT. Speakers Point to Advant-- | _ _ ages of the Proposed f ' Change. \ | + Rnesioe nc | [ | Thtre was little encouragement for tax reformers at the Legislature yes-- terday. Two bills to amend the as-- sessment act:; to give local option to municipalities to exempt in whole or in part buildings and improvements | and place the burden of taxation up-- i on the land, were given a second read-- [ ing and referred to a select com-- imiltt'c' on assessment, to be named | later. One bill, introduced by Mr. 'Hu\\'v". is a duplicate of the Pripp ! IH(:(.\'""' ('l'v\\'\'.'\'."[':r: ago; the other. [ by Mr. J. A. Ellis (East Oftawa), gm\ulu,-s the same principle, but ap-- i]:livs the© exerpption -- in a gradual | scale. s j In (.,,"S(.n[ing to the second read-- | ing both Sir James Whitney and Hon. | Mr. Hanna made it clear that while -- 3 5 cepared 'thc Government would be prepare | to consider the recommendation of | the committee, "we will never give | our consent to the piebald and check-- !cr-mmrd system of assessment which is the object of these bills." At the | same time Sir James ventnured the lnpininn that outside of the larg. | cities and towns not fifty school see-- tions would accept the proposal. Unfairness of Present sSystem, _ Mr. cRowell, in a well--considered address, dwelt upon the manifest un-- fairness of the present system,. under which an idle landlord would reap the ilu-m-li( of his neighvor's industry. ' | With the Jand bearing the burden of | taxation, vacant land would have to | be improved and building would re-- ' 1sull. The tendency of this would ; % ! be to stop the alarming rise in rents. {if not to actually lower rents, and Iul.s'u to provide an -- abundance »of work for the building trades. Hon. Mr. Manna--was not too--cor= / dial with the bill. He thought the principle might be applied to cities land the larger towns, but if any un-- ' ; carned increment was found in <va-- | cant land in the smaller places it | was more than lifelong landlords | could find. * |_._Mr. Rowell commenced by explain-- | ing that the reason he had introduc-- j ed the same bill that was brought in { by Mr. Fripp last year was because | it embodied the principles -- of_ the a | single tax, and he hoped it would be ; jacceptable to the Government mem-- | bers apart from party _ lines. His | bill would give local municipalities [a larger measure of autonomy than ; that of Mr. Eliis. * -- | Many of .« ~the most im -- portant reforms which had hbeen accomplished in the old coun-- try were brought about by changes in the assessment laws, Mr, TLloyda i George's land tax principle had be-- a come recognized now as one of the principles of taxation. . There -- was s _)the' same principle in these bills, $ f i which Mr. Rowell thought it was i