COLONIAL TAXATION.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 41, 7 October 1867, Page 245

COLONIAL TAXATION.

(From the Nelson Examiner.)

A change in the mode of raising the revenue of the country is the one thing to which we have consistently endeavoured to draw public attention as the first- and principal thing needed; in other words, a diminution of the Customs duties, and the substitution of a system of direct taxation. The carrying out of such a scheme is not, we are aware, to be regarded as a perfect remedy for all our difficulties, but it will do a great deal by its direct operation, and its indirect operation may be fairly expected to do something in addition. The first and direct effect will be the relief of trade, and the igpre equitable distribution of the burden of taxation. The second and indirect effect will be the prospect of retrenchment. To both of these points it is very necessary that the public mind should be attentively turned. We may assume that all parties and all shades of parties are, at all events theoretically, agreed iu this, that the present taxation in-the shape of Customs duties is the incubus that smothers and oppresses the struggling energies of this country. All will admit this, however much the exigencies of party may separate their vote from their conviction; all will admit it, whatever opinion they may entertain as to the relative merits of direct and indirect

taxation. The fact indeed is too obvious for dis- 1 pute. Here is a population of less than 250,000 : persons paying £870,000 iu Customs duties alone, i This is the sum. estimated byjMr Fitzherbert as : Customs revenue for the ensuing year, and the i meaning of it is that every man, woman, and i child in these islands may look forward to paying i about £8 10s. during the next year upon- the ■ various necessaries and luxuries they may consume i [during the next year. That is a promising prospect for economical families who are exerting .themselves under difficulties and hoping for better 1 times. That is a re-assuring statement for tradesmen who complain of the dullness of trade, and. who know.that it is the addition in the. Customs impost to the proper market price of their wares that causes the latter to lie unsold in their shops. If anyone thinks that it is possible for the country I to prosper under such a state of things as this, all Iwe can say is that the faith of that person par- , takes of the sublime. To us, we confess the ill- ! timed facetiousness of the Colonial Treasurer in [discussing these subjects, only shows how little [men in office appreciate or care for the needs of the country; and his congratulations on the progressive increase of the Customs revenue appears [like a ghastly mockery of the public distress. What are we to think of a Einance Minister who congratulates the country on thy elasticity of its resources, because a fresh application of the financial screw has succeeded in increasing the sum wrung out of the tax-payer P For this is the sort of irony with which Mr Eitzherbert regales the House and the country. He shows that lor the last ten years the Customs revenue has constantly increased, aud we grant that if we look merely at the yearly increase from 1857 to 1864 we have reason for satisfaction. But we know : that the_ Customs duties were increased in the , last-named year—and what followed? In the financial year 1862-3, the Customs revenue was £488,522; in the following year (1863-4), it had i increased to £017,002/ or more, than one-fifth. - But during the next year (1864-5), under an ini creased tariff, the Customs revenue attained only i to the sum of £643,297, having increased only by ; about one twenty-fiifrh, or . a fifth part of its ini crease in the preceding year. Now. we do not . say that this remarkable felling off in the yearly - increase was due entirely to the augmentation of , the duties, but we feel safe iu saying that this was one important foctor in the production of such a : result,- But let us look a little farther. In the next year, or 1865-6, we find the Customs revenue , amounting to £796,227, showing again an iacrease of one-fifth, and giving evidence that, , though times were bad, the resources of the country had some vitality, and the Customs . duties, though heavy, were not absolutely crushing. But then the present tariff was introduced, and what do the returns show ? The Customs duties i for the financial year last ended, amount to : £864,668, the increase being reduced to less than . one-twelfth. And is it possible, that a Finance ; Minister should have the effrontery to congratulate [ the people’s.representatives, and through them the country at large, on such a state of things as this P [ Here is a series of figures which shows that every ; augmentation of Customs duties has been followed f by an immediate and most striking-diminution' in j the rate of increase of Customs revenue; and yet Mr Fitzherbert, looking only to the absolute j increase, and neglecting the proportionate dimit nution, thinks this “interesting return” very r satisfactory. It is as -if a . doctor, ignoring -the , pallid lips and feeble pulse of his patient, should congratulate him on. the ”,of his con-

stitution, and should point, in proof, to the basin of blood which had been drawn, from his arm, and which exceeds by an ounce or two that obtained bn a former occasion. . ’ Instead of joining in the congratulations of the Colonial Treasurer—congratulations which we fear were as insincere as they are preposterous—we regard the very igures produced by Mr Fitzherbert as giving additional evidence of , what was, indeed, sufficiency. rdear ; without them—-that the Customs duties areruining the country. The first step in. reform: therefore,’ obviously- to lighten the tariff,/and to sliift;a par t;]of the, burden whatwe do.not tfiere is.no ‘room- for retrenchment, SLud-that/thepresent/revenue-'inhst be raised—to lighten the . tariff will bs to ease the

springs of commerce, and- to increase the profit of the /country, and consequently ite power to .yield a revenue.' But, as we>have aaid/.we do not ./grant the -impossibility/ of. retrenchment.. On the] contrary-; we are very sure that there is plenty of room for/ retrenchment;. and we reckon it among the /virtues' of direct taxation, that it will bpen/Hiio eyes of men to this sooner than any btheriineans. .Who.will Venture to tell os that no retrenchment is possible, when such un'absurdity appears on the Estimates as is shown in regard to the office -hf Sub-Treasurer in different provinces P In Nelisoh, Taranaki, and , Hawke’s Bay, the SqbTreasurer? 3 ; ; departmen.t costs £l5O. per annum.; in Auckland, which has a smaller revenue than Nelson, £850; Otago, £700; and Canterbury, £1,056. This item is given as a good illustration of the skill and care with which all parts of our financial scheme are worked.