RAIDING THE REVENUE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 252, 23 October 1919, Page 4

RAIDING THE REVENUE.

* I Wo hope the chorus of approval with ' which the Premier's announcement of the Government's intention to compen- '• ;sate butter producers out of the revenue was received in the House, does not mean ■ that Parliament is completely and per- • manently deaf to the appeal of the ignored on this occasion. The butter producers have a genuine grievance. They have to take less for their .butter in the New Zealand market than they can get at Home, and they naturally to the arrangement made during the war that the loss on what ivas I sold locally should be divided among the (trade. But, as we have pointed out Until we are weary, if, in your desire to protect the consumer, you pay the (difference out of the country's revenue, ■jtfur subsidy ultimately comes out of the f>ockcts of the object of your solicitude. Revenue is taxation, and everybody pays Kaxes, consequently everybody will pay ypart of the £170,000 butter subsidy. jThe only excuse for this policy is that I desperate diseases require desperate remedies, and the proverb has to be j stretched to make it fit. One wonders [where the policy is going to end. The , State is now subsidising ilour and butter, jlind it will bo fortunate if under the Act it does not liave to subsidise (housing. It is said that the price of »tea may rise to 4/ a pound, in which lease the Government would probably be quite willing to subsidise the tea .merchant in order to keep the price .down to half-a-crown. It is a vicious circle, [and it is unthinkable that in a sanelycountry it should be permanent. Abnormal conditions may make .it undesirable or impossible to break it [completely now, but the Government must make up its mind to put a limit its continuance. Such a system of [subsidies is the line of least resistance, end to take it means putting off the real [struggle with the cost of living problem. It creates false values, blurs the real outlines of the problem, and confirms people in their erroneous ideas of /L'conomiw.