WAR BUDGET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 226, 22 September 1915, Page 5

WAR BUDGET.

GREATEST IN HISTORY

STUPENDOUS FIGURES.

£127,155X500 INCREASE IN REVENUE. WAR'S STAGGERING COST. £5.600,000 A DAY. HEAVY IMPORT DUTY. TO SHUT OUT LUXURIES. (Received 10.5 a.m.) ' LONDON", September 21. During tlu- introduction of the Budget, tlie House of Commons presented one of tho~e :_ru scenes which mark the bijriltiit < vents in its history. The greatest BuJ.;et ever introduced drew an onor imouu crowd within urnl without the Huu.«c. Parliament Square and tlic ap proachea to Palace Yard were filled with people anxious to «•<■ tlie controllers of the country's destinies passing through to Westminster lln.lt. The lob'.i.-s and the central hall were blocked with people anxious to get admieeion to the Chamber or secure a first hint of the new burden* of taxation. Merchants or their representatives always cri/wd Par liuiiient on Budget night. Changes in the duties mean much to the maHters of commerce, and many are the expedients reported to in order to escape from tlie building with news of a fresh tax or a lowered duty. i Within the Chamber the gangways and galleries were parked to buff<*ation. .Many members before noon c.irds on their teats. Applicants ■ for tickets tp the utranjiers' gnJlerV thronged Oie β-oeijicts, and there was not a titbe of accommodation for trie crowds. * NEEDS COURAGE. In the couMe of his lSudpet statement, the Chancellor of th~ Exchequer, Mr Ki-jtinaldTMcKenna, asked. <he House to assent to great and unprecedented bur dens. He estimated the revenue on the existing basuj at £272,000,000, and the expenditure £1,590,fX10,000. He wae sure the Country would courageously and confidently face the outlay. Every section of the community miut contri but* to make grent sacrifices. He csti mated that at the end of this year the deadweight debt would be £2,200.000,000. That would in no wise w cripple the resources the nation possessed. Tlie Navy was coating £100,000,000, the Army £715,000,000, and external advance* amounting to £423.000,000. He estimated p the daily rate of expenditure loi all service* from now to the end of the financial year at upward.* of £4,500,000. possibly rUing towards the close of the tinancial year to upwards of £5,000,000. The expenditure for the current year included £3<i,000,000 on pro and postnioratoriiim bills, and £170,000,000 ordinary national services,. excluding the Army and Kevjr. There was no record: of any nation voluntarily accepting' liabilitice bearing sor high a proportion to the tottt income for which provision, must be made within a single year. In regard to the new taxation, both the strict free trader and the scientific tariff reformer must temporarily put his fiatal theories aside. ■ They niust look at till?' condition of the foreign exchanges. Bind discourage importe, and also have j a strict regard to the necessity for *(he reduction £n consumption. INCREASED INCOME TAX. He proposed to add 40 per centt (to the income tax rates, combined wijth improved machinery for a=j*iiting employees, and special .relief for reducbd incomes. The 40 per cent increase woiJld be for the full year, making 20 per cent for the remaining six months. Tie exemption limit would be reduced to, sty, £130, and the abatement to £lib. The tax would be payable half-yearly. The proponed changes in the income tix would yield an increase of £11,074,0(0? realising irt the full year £44,400,000.! HEAVT SUPERTAX. He proposed to tax war profits and also raise the super tax scale. A mjin without children earning 60/- a wei?k would pay 18/11 v quarter; a man similarly circumstanced earning 80/- a week would pay 46/2 a quarter; a man wijth £5,000 a year would pay £1,029; a mjin with XIOJOOO, £2.52U> and a man over £10,000, 7/- in the £ for all in excess of £10,(KKl. The possessor of £100,1)00, a year would pay £34,029. The revenue , from the excess of wiur profits was estimated at £30,000.000 <or the full year, but only £0,000,000, Was collected before the ;ilst of March. INLAND REVENUE. The total additional revenue for the full effective year under the inland revenue was estimated at £77.000,000. The proposed sugar duty which increased the price a, half-penny a pound would yicild £11,700.000 a year, andother increases were- «j0 per cent increlse on tea, coiffee, dried fruits and tobacjeo. The iucrea.se duty on tea would produce. £4,500.00*1 a year, and that on tobat-co £3.100,000. There would be an incret.se in the motor spirit duty of 'JfH per gallon, and tile patent medicine duty wollld be doubled, yielding £250,000. There would be no alteration in regard to and spirits. * TO STOP LUXURIES. Dealing with imports' which mifcht properly by restricted by duties for reasons of foreign exchange and the 'restriction of luxury. Mr. McKenna proposed an a<l vaj.orp.rn. duty of 3:)J per cent on motor cars, motor cycles, cinema films, clocks, wntchea, musical instruments, pl*te glass, and hats, yielding £1.1)50,000 a year. Changes in the post office and telegraph rates would yield an increase of £4,975.000. The total additional revenue from customs and excise for the present year would be £25.000.01)0. and the total new taxation £102,155,000 a year. The Retrenchment Committee had adopted a suggestion for the nbolition of tJi<? halfpenny postage with h reduction of the weight of letters enrriod. a penny higher on the scnle of the parcels post, an increase on inland tclegniniß and press telegrani3, increased poundage on postal orders, and higher telephone! charges. Mr McKenna said the country would I treble its debt and double its taxation, and if the war continued, lii? proposals would not be the left word. He urged increased perion«l economy. 1