TAXING SAVINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 292, 7 December 1923, Page 4

TAXING SAVINGS.

A feature of present-day taxation j discussion and policy is the idea of » differentiating between certain kinds of investment. We see this in the treatJ ment of farmers and investors in local * body debentures. Now it lias been dis- :. covered that the Taxation Department * is on the track of persons who keep money in the Post Office Savings Bank, and it ie suggested that because the ' Government uses these deposits to I finance its requirements, and thrift ' should be encouraged, it is unwise to tax this money. But why should a man ■who gets interest from the Savings Bank !be treated differently from one who J draws dividends from a State loan or a company? We can beliove that some Post Office depositors are surprised at the Department's action, but that is only because they have been accustomed to i let their interest accumulate instead of drawing it periodically, as they would do in tbc case of a dividend. Such interest is just as much a dividend as the > return from any other kind of investment. It has also been suggested that it may not pay the Department to probe into these account?, the maximum of • which is limited. That is another ques- ; tion. The Department is perfectly well ; entitled to do \rhat it is doing, and we f may be thankful that we have officials 5 who explore every source of income.