TAXATION OF FOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 118, 21 May 1931, Page 8

TAXATION OF FOOD.

OBJECTION , TO WHEAT DUTY,

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIEW.

"The normal consumption of wheat in New Zealand is 8,500,000 bushels, and the Government's estimate for this year is 6,500,000 bushels. Is it a fair thing for the Government to place a tax on the importation of the remaining amount of \vheat needed for consumption!" asked Mr. A. G. Lunn, at the meeting to-day of the Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Lunn said the Government had realised the necessity of a reduction of wages, and he asked how the Government could sanction the continued heavy taxation of the main foodstuff of the people. Many foods could be eliminated in case of necessity, but bread was the main necessity even of the poorest, and should be the last item to suffer a tax.

The country could not afford the luxury of a tax to benefit the few at the cost of the many. The wheat duties had raised the price of wheat land to an uneconomic level.

He moved a long motion, which was carried unanimously, advocating the abolition of the sliding scale and the substitution, for a limited period, of a percentage duty, not to exceed 33i per cent on the f.o."b. cost on Empire wheat.