52 Ancestors - Week 15 - Taxes - Charles Woolcock M.H.R.

Taxes and not paying tax on time are the main reasons my great great grandfather, Charles Woolcock, is remembered in the annals of New Zealand parliamentary history. (Charles is sure to appear again this year as he is my most interesting ancestor.)

If you read my blog about Sister Lydia Woolcock last week, you may remember that I mentioned her father, Charles, had fled to New Zealand in 1864 and that he had “aspirations”. Those aspirations, I suspect, were social status and power. I'd like to think he too wanted social change.

Within ten years of his arrival in New Zealand, Charles had moved away from farming and had set up a very successful store on the Greymouth goldfields. He had also sought political office, becoming a borough councillor, a member of the Provincial Council, then Provincial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works in the Province of Westland. His next step was to become a Member of the House of Representatives. He was duly elected in November 1875.

One of his platforms was the “incidence of taxation”. In early colonial New Zealand, the major method for collecting government revenue was customs duties. All imports were taxed, including the “necessaries of life” like tea, sugar, coffee, flour and clothing. The government had borrowed huge amounts for public works like roads and harbours, and was investing heavily in railways. As access was opened up, land values rose sharply. Woolcock argued that revenue collection should move away from customs duties and instead should target land to “relieve the labouring class of great burden” and to stop land speculation. Although he never got the credit for it, Woolcock’s idea of a land tax was implemented by John Ballance and Sir George Grey in 1878. It later became a more broad-based property tax until the beginning of income tax as we know it in 1891.

Charles Woolcock’s time in parliament, however, was short-lived. At the next election, in 1879, it was discovered that he was not on the electoral roll. He did not qualify because he had not lived in any district for 6 months, nor had he paid rates (a local government tax) on time. Another attempt to get back into parliament in 1881 was unsuccessful and he went bankrupt just as he was planning a third campaign. He then fled once again, this time to Australia.

It is interesting to note that New Zealand is currently looking at tax reform and ways to generate revenue. The arguments appear to be the same: should workers and consumers who can’t avoid tax bear the burden or should landowners who make large, currently tax-free, sums through house and land speculation pay their fair share to build infrastructure like roads, public transport networks, hospitals and schools?

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