LABOUR AND THE STATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 117, 20 May 1931, Page 6

LABOUR AND THE STATE.

Familiar lines were followed by' the Leader of the jjabour Party in his speech last night, and little fresh ground was broken. The old charge that our financial policy was dictated by London appeared again. Such an assertion is easily made, but proof of its foundation is singularly absent, and it would be well if the Labour leader would substantiate his charges before repeating them all over the country. Mr. Holland criticised the United Party for its failure to carry out its pre-election programme, entirely ignoring the complete change in the country's position which has occurred meanwhile, and the need for the careful conservation of all its resources. Conditions having altered so vitally, the policy of the Government was eventually amended to meet the new conditions, and it is futile to suggest that the old programme should have been persevered with.

Mr. Holland suggested that he could cure all the economic ills of the country by the use of income taxation. He quotes the assessable income taxation of 1921-22 as £38,346,000, and of 1929-30 as £65,380,000. But Mr. Holland did not state that taxation is not levied upon the assessable income, but upon the taxable balance after the deduction of exemptions. If he had, he would have shown that the taxable balance of 1929-30 was £32,344,560, only three millions more than it was in 1925. It is significant that, while income tax was increased by 10 per cent last year, the receipts from this source dropped by £600,000. Here is a very clear indication that such a source of revenue has its limitations, and that the undue exploitation of this field must result in the withdrawal of capital from industrial enterprise, with a consequent increase in unemployment.