Ex-farmer caught in middle of two tax revolts

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Caught between two tax revolts, retired Auckland farmer Colin Bull says the Government could learn from regional fundraisers about fairness.

He may be expected to say that, considering he is married to Auckland Regional Council chairwoman Gwen Bull.

But he insisted he was drawing an objective comparison between the Government's proposed emissions research levy on sheep and cows and a 34 per cent increase in the region's overall rates demand.

Mr Bull, who chose to step down last year as Federated Farmers Auckland provincial president in part to avoid conflict with his wife's $125,377-a-year job, said farmers had "no concern" about the rates rises as they welcomed a change from land-based to capital-based charges.

"We think capital value taxes are far fairer because people who can afford to put up expensive buildings are more likely to afford to pay expensive taxes," he said.

"Land value is no measure of ability to pay in rural communities."

He said farmers still felt regional council rates were a burden, particularly as they were paying for parkland for which they had little use, "but we are grateful for the changes being made".

He noted that rural landowners in areas without buses or trains did not have to pay transport levies, a major contributor to rates rises of more than 200 per cent for some Aucklanders.

And he believed the regional council had made greater efforts to consult ratepayers than the Government did in asking farmers what they thought about the emissions levy.