January 30, 2010 12:18pm by David Farrar

Herald Maths

Aucklanders would be hammered by a proposed land tax, with households facing an annual bill running into thousands of dollars.

According to conservative estimates, owners of the region’s 443,200 homes alone would have to give the Treasury an extra $443 million if they were subject to a 0.5 per cent levy.

Umm, if 443,000 homes will pay $443 million in a 0.5% land tax, then that is an annual bill of $1,000 on average – not “thousands of dollars”.

Remuera households could be paying $6500 each and those on the North Shore $1300-$4000 a year. Financier Mark Hotchin of Hanover could be paying almost $100,000 a year for his three-section block in Paritai Drive, Orakei, and Prime Minister John Key would be up for much the same on his slice of St Stephens Ave in Parnell.

Umm, The Herald itself in 2008 said that the St Stephens Ave house was valued at $6.8 million. Now not all of that will be land, but even if it is that would be $34,000 a year in land tax – not the $100,000 the Herald claims.