PARLIAMENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLI, Issue 9290, 11 August 1920, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

LAND AND INCOME TAX

(Per Pvess Association.) WELLINGTON, August 10. The House met at 2.30 p.m. Mi' Massey gave notice of his intention to introduce the Immigration Restriction Act Amendment Bill. The Land' and Income Tax Bill was introduced ;iby Governor's message.: Mr Massey explained that it was merely the annual Bill fixing the rate of these taxes, as from April 1 ; 1920. There wouldjbe' no alteration in last, year's rate.''The Finance Bill, which would come down later, would not affect anything contained in this Bill. Mr Veitch contended that the time had arrived when the Government must take into consideration readjustment of the whole Incidence of taxation, so that the rich may bear a heavier share of the burden. It was proposed to "take 6J millions from the people through Customs and excise, of which the poor would have to pay the greater share. Against this enormous sum the increases in land and income taxes were small indeed.

Mr Parry supported this view, in the interests of the working classes., Mr Statham sai^ thai the'present system of taxation was full of anomalies. Even the Government would admit that. He; therefore,, asked the Government to postpone this Bill until the Finance Bill could be considered. They were only' proposing to raise an additional £22,000 by way of land and income tax, but over a million by way of Customs, and this, he thought, altogether ' wrong. Mr Luke,, agreed that the incidence of taxation demanded a change, and, he believed the' land and"income taxes -were avenues through which new revenue could be obtained. Compared -with Britain the people of New Zealand were not doing-their duty in the matter of taxation. r Mr McCombs said that New Zealand's method of taxation was hotchpotch and he "was very'sorry that the 'Prime Minister was postponing for an,pther year the opportunities to put it r if glit. -.^r Jones maintained that there wore very lew rich people in New Zealand. We were all on nearly the same, plane and consequently we had to bear J a fairly heavy share of the .burden. | Nearly everything used by the workers j was duty free under the Customs. They paid nothing under classes which contributed a large paxt of Customs.

i Mi- Holland said that the system of tax;!Mon should proceed along the lines of taxing heavily the man with a very large income and large estate, and it should not be levied with so much re-r gard to what was taken from the man. as to what was left to him. A man with an income of £650 should not be touched until the man with an'income of £10,000 had been brought down.to that level. This might appear revolutionary, but it was scientific. After further discussion on similar lines the Bill was read a first time. . j The Hospital and Charitable Institution Act Amendment Bill was introduced by Governor's message and referred to the Public Health Committte. The House resumed at 7.30. The Prime Minister, reviewing the discussion which took place during the afternoon, said that' the' work of the Government was further advanced this session than he had ever known it. Twenty-nine Bills had been submitted to Parliament, 13 of which had been passed, and the remainder now were before members. The taxing Bill introduced could not be held back, as had been suggested, because the taxing Department must have at least six months in which to make its arrangements, and the position would not permit of postponement. When the Bill j now before tlfS Public Accounts Committee came down members would have full opportunity of discussing the whole question of the incidence of taxation, but that question was not involved in this measure. Regarding the collection of Customs," he pointedout that there was a general idea that we were now collecting a greater percentage of Customs revenue than we were doing in 1900. For instance, then we were taking 38.39; to-day we were only getting 18.37 per cent, of.our total revenue from Customs. On the other hand, other taxes, such as land and income, had risen very considerably. Discussing income tax, he said that the New Zealand exemption was the highest in the world, and he was; proud of it. He was also proud of the fact that individually the people ,of New Zealand were , also amongst the richest in the world.

Following upon, Mr Massey's remarks, the discussion on taxation proceeded on similar lines to the afternoon debate. °

Mr Massey moved the second reading of the Statutes Repeal and Expiring Laws Amendment . and Continuance Bill. He explained that the Bill repealed certain features of war legislation no longer found necessary,' while it continued others which could not yet be dispensed with. There was no policy in the Bill, as' it dealt with a number of provisions which had no relation to each other. . The subjects on which legislation was not repealed were monopoly prevention, rotation of crops on Crown .lands, and the housing question.

Mr Isitt contended that the clause dealing with returned soldiers was not put into the Bill to the detriment of soldiers, but for their benefit, as many long-service soldiers were being kept out of their houses by those who never had been to the front, and who were only nominally, returned soldiers. Mr Veitch .complained- of the repeal of legislation dealing with the National Provident Fund. The manner in which the Government was dealing with'this class of legislation was leaving the House quite in the dark' as to its humanitarian policy. The discussion was .-continued by Messrs Holland, Hudson, Atmore. and McCombs.

The Bill was road a second time, and the House rose at 1.30 a.m