Local Taxation in Other Countries

British Overseas Dominions.

Local government and local taxation in the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire resemble the British system rather than the continental, but in one respect the method of local taxation differs from both, in that it is very generally based on the capital value of land. Thus, in Australia the main source of municipal revenue consists of rates levied on the unimproved capital value of land in New South Wales and Queensland, on the annual value of land in South and Western Australia and, in Victoria, on either the one or the other at the option of the local authority. It is to be observed, however, that in Western Australia the annual value of a property, for pur poses of taxation, must be taken as not less than 4% of the capital value of improved or 5% of unimproved property, and in South Australia also there is a similar check on the annual value, which approximates it to a capital value tax.

The position is much the same in the other Dominions, the precise selection between annual or capital value of land and buildings, or land value alone, being a matter, primarily, for legis lation by the various provinces, and secondarily for the decision of the local authorities themselves. In most of the provinces of

Canada buildings are taxed as well as land, while personal property and businesses are also in some cases subject to local taxation. In Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan municipalities may levy a local income tax, but this power has not been widely exer cised. Market dues, dog taxes, liquor, trade and vehicle licences are available to the local authorities in the Dominions generally. Grants from the central Government do not play so large a part in the Dominions as in Great Britain, nor is central control exer cised to any great extent, except as regards restrictions on the raising of loans. In British India provincial rates are levied on the annual value of land, while the principal sources of municipal revenue are octroi, taxes on houses and lands, animals, vehicles, professions and trades, tolls on roads and ferries, and water, light ing and conservancy rates.