CUSTOMS TAXATION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 181, 1 August 1919, Page 7

CUSTOMS TAXATION.

TEN TEARS' FIGURES. A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE. 3sy Telegraph.—Pre_s Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The Minister of Customs, the Hon. A. M. Myers, supplies the following information regarding the Customs and excise beer duty collected per head of the population during each calendar year for the last 10 years:— Customs Excise Beer Duty per head. per head. £ s. d. s. d. 1909 2 11 7 2 3 1910 2 16 4 2 3 1911 219 O 2 3 j 1912 3 0 7 2 3 ! 1913 3 0 6 2 2 1914 2 19 0 2 4 1915 2 15 S 2 4 i 1916 3 0 9 3 3 1917 2 IS 10 3 10 191S 3 2 C 4 6 "It will be observed," said Mr. Myers,' "that the Customs revenue per head shows a gradual advance from 190!) to 1913, due to the increase in the value of imports, which in 1909 were valued at '£15,674,719, and in 1913 at £22,283,302. Owing to the disturbing influence of the war on trade generally imports decreased in 1914 and 1915, and, consequence, the Customs revenue for those years also shows a decrease. The year 1910, however, was a record one for Customs collections. The rise in the prices of imported goods and the increased rates of duty, which included primage duty, imposed by the Finance Act, 1915, being responsible. In 1917 further increases were made in the Customs tariff. Extra duties collected per head as the result of the altered rates, compared with the total Customs I revenue per head, are: — Totals Collected. Extra Duty. £ s. d. s. d. 1913 (pre-war year) .... 3 0 6 — 1914 2 19 O — 1915 2 15 S 15 1916 3 6 9 7 9 1917 2 18 10 9 0 1918 3 2 6 14 7 "It will be seen," continued Mr. Myers, "that the average annual Customs revenue for the last four years has kept up to the pre-war level, the average per head for 1915-16 being about £3 1/, as against £3 0/0 for 1913. Excise beer duty increased by about 100 per cent, in 1918, compared with pre-war years. This was due almost entirely to the increase in the rate of duty from 3d to nearly Od per gallon.'' DECREASED AUCKLAND RETURNS.

The Customs duty collected at the port ■ of Auckland during July amounted to £72,600 9/11, as against £74,595 18/11 in July, 1918, a decrease of £1995 9/- The beer duty collected last month totalled £ 6150 4/8, compared with £4453 15/0 in 1918, an increase of £1696 9/2. Silver exported last month amounted to 18,8750z, valued at £3090, as against 72,1790z, valued at £14,570, exported in the same month last year, a decrease of £10,830.