The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATE The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1921. TRADE AND REVENUE

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 24, 28 January 1921, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATE The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1921. TRADE AND REVENUE

For the cause that laclcs assistance, For the wrong that needs rcsisinnee. For the future in the distance, And the good that toe can da-

Two financial items of unusual importance appear in to-day's i-istie, the return of imports and exports for the December quarter and for the calendar year, and the revenue figures for the third quarter of the financial year. The trade position may be expressed in comparison aa follows, takimr the figures in our message from Wellington: — Exports. Imports. 1010 £,13,06.0.07.-1 30.071.1508 10-0 £40.441,040 01,5»5,8*-'S The position is one for which returns durinf- 1020 have prepared us. Exports have declined by several million?, while imports have doubled. There was a favourable balance of trade in 1019 of more than twenty-three millions; in 1020 there was an adverse balance of more than fifteen millions. That is to say, there has been an adverse movement to the extent of nearly forty millions. This id oerioos enough, hut if we take the true value? of imports it is seen to be more so. "It should he noted," said the Minister of Finance in his 1020 Budget, "that the import values are based upon the fair market value in the country of exportation, plus 10 per cent. Thiri id the value for ad valorem and prtmapc duties. The true landed cost is probably 20 per cent in advance of the figures shown, owing to high freights." That is to say, the real value of our imports in 1920, the value which, -with profits added, touches the pocket of the consumer, was much more than £01,000,000, and since the [ value placed on exports is fairly accurate, the adverse balance is much greater than tbe returns represent. There is this ' small amount of comfort, that the imports for the December quarter show a decrease of half a million on those of the September quarter, and circumstances would point to the September period being the peak of the extraordinary boom in importation. Certainly no community could continue for long trading on these lines without coming to disaster. As for exports, it must be remembered that 1919, with its clearance of accumulated stocks after the war, was an exceptional year, so that the decline is not so serious as it might appear. We must also bear in mind, however, that we are facing a period of falling prices, so that the export figures for 1921 are sure to be considerably lower than those of last year. Under the circumstances importation must be curtailed. The abnormal importation of tho year is reflected in the revenue returns. In the December quarter Customs yielded nearly two and a half millions, or nearly a million more than was paid in duty in the corresponding quarter of 1910. In three-fourths, of the financial year Customs have yielded six and a half millions, which is half a million more than Mr. Massey expected to get from this department for the whole year. This no doubt will provide the largest increase when the year's revenue is made up, but the whole revenue will show a growth that must give the Government pause. So far the Government has raised about twenty millions in revenue, and there are yet to come the. receipts for the fourth and current quarter, which include income tax. Mr. Massey has got in his land tax, which, in spite of the movement of land values, shows only a small increase, but he has yet to collect the whole of his income tax. In the corresponding quarter of 1020 he collected six millions in income tax, and nearly eleven and threequarter millions of total. Assuming that he will be equally fortunate ti.is year, and the probability is that the quarter's revenue will show a substantial increase, tho receipts for the financial year will reach a total of between thirty-one and thirty-two millions. Mr. Massey's estimate of revenue for the year -was £27,712,000, so that it is practically certain that his calculations will be considerably exceeded. In fact it is quite possible that the excess will amount to several millions. That thirty odd millions should be extracted from the pockets of a community of 1,200,000 people in a period of falling prices and economic uncertainty, is a serious matter that must soon engage the attention of Government and Parliament. Speaking generally—we do not, for example, forget the question of land taxation—this country had reached the limits of taxation before prices began to fall, and to-day it is doubly important that the whole matter should be carefully reviewed If the reply is that the Government's programme of expenditure requires that so much money be raised, the retort must be that this programme will have to be revised.