NATIONAL ACCOUNTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 190, 14 August 1933, Page 6

NATIONAL ACCOUNTS.

An indication that the sales tax is likely to prove more remunerative than was anticipated is given in the quarterly stateVnent of national accounts. This tax was estimated to produce £1,500,000 in a full year, and already nearly a third of the amount is in hand from three months' collections. This, combined with the fact that revenue from Customs and direct taxation has been well maintained, resulted in an increase of £650,000 in State revenue during the first quarter of the year. Mr. Coates is obviously relieved to find that the returns have come out so well, and he may be entitled to regard it as evidence that the Dominion is probably past the worst of its troubles. The position would be considerably better but for the cost of the high exchange policy, which added £1,760,000 to Government expenditure in tho three months. After allowing for the amount which had to be found to meiet London commitments, there was a surplus of £1,715,000, of which the banks. had : to be relieved under the indemnity guarantee. It would be unsafe to base on the quarterly figures an estimate of what the high exchange will cost for a full year, for the. outlook is bound up with the trade position. Imports have been exceptionally light, but if the general economic improvement leads to an early renewal of buying abroad there-will be an increased demand for funds overseas. If tho export revenue rises with a recovery in prices, and there is more spending within the country, importers will be faced with the need of 1 replenishing their stocks. _ ,_. . j