FARMERS APPREHENSIVE

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 19

FARMERS APPREHENSIVE

"BUSINESS GOVERNMENT." DTJAI* TAX PROPOSAL. STRONG OPPOSITION PROMISED. (By Telegrapn.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. Determined opposition to the proposal that the income tax as well as land tax should be imposed on the farmer was promised by Mr. W. J. Poison, M.P., in his presidential address at the Dominion Conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to-day. . '•'We have a Government in powei pledged to go further than any Government has hitherto goce in assisting the primary producer to maintain his place in the sun," said Mr. Poison. No doubt the Government is perfectly sincere in this but we must not forget that it is a business man's Government. There is only one genuine farmer in its ranks, and he. has been loaded with the two important portfolios of Lands and Agriculture.' .Two other members of the Cabinet are successful business men who farm land by deputy, but the rest of the party in power have no personal interest in the industry we follow here. " The result is that the secondary Industrie? are taking heart. Enormous pressure is being brought to bear on the Government to grant more support to secondary industries through the tariff, but cutting out various State and municipal business enterprises, and by the readjustment of taxation to put a still greater burden upon the land. No doubt the Government will do its best to maintain an open mind, but unless we are prepared to show our determination to fight and to carry the fight through to its bitter, conclusion, we may find our case going, by default. We cannot afford to have any weak links in our organisation at this time, and I cannot impress upon you too strongly the necessity _ of getting together and supporting your leaders with your time, your influence, and your subscriptions in the cause of solid organisation ready for whatever may arise. " There" is already a demand that the increased taxation foreshadowed by the Government' shall be placed upon the shoulders of the farmer. A proposal emanating from men who represent city interests purely has been made that the farmer should pay dual taxation instead of merely land tax. It is true-that the pill is gilded by the suggestion that only the large farmers will feel this additional burden. No doubt the ' small farmer would escape largely, if not entirely, but those who talk of taxing the large farmer forget that every small farmer hopes some day to be in a position to increase his holding just as the shopkeeper hopes to enlarge his business; in order to give a fair start to his sons and daughters. It must be understood that while farmers as a class are in favour of closer settlement, opposed to land aggregation, and reconciled to the principle of a graduated land tax, they will solidly and unitedly oppose any proposals for dual taxation. It is true that as the\ one class in .the community who can pass nothing on they ultimately pay all taxes, but a cynical attempt to load them directly with the double burden of land and income tax every farmer in the Dominion will determinedly resent."