STATE FINANCES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 12

STATE FINANCES.

REVENUE BUOYANT.

PROSPECTS IMPROVING.

REVIEW BY MB. OOATES.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

Judged on the results of the financial operations for the eight months of the j year, and with the assistance of buoyancy in revenue now apparent, the Budgetary picture for 1934 will be retouched, and the deficit will be below the anticipated £2,000,000. The revenue is £1,371,000 higher thn for the corresponding period of last year. Departmental expenditure is £353,000 less than the proportionate part of the estimate for the year, and taxation receipts are £46,000 i'n excess. This hopeful summary was given by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Coates, in the House last night, when briefly outlining the returns for the period from April to November of the current financial year. The Minister said the revenue for the eight months ended November 30 amounted to £11,029,000, which was £1,371.000 greater than that received for the corresponding period last year. New items of taxation —the sales tax and the gold export duty—provided £1,153.000 of the comparative increase. Taxation Receipts. "Taxation receipts are generally in accord with the Budget estimates, although the position in regard to income tax will not be known until later,'' continued Mr. Coates. _ "Apart from land and income tax, receipts are £40,000 in excess of the proportionate. part of the estimate for the year, with the best period still to come. "In regard to land tax, the time for payment is now past, and I may say the receipts already to hand are up to the Budget estimate for the year. Interest receipts and certain of the items grouped under other receipts in the estimates are not evenly spread over the year. Allowing for these accounting fluctuations, receipts are in accord with the Budget estimates and compare favourably with the corresponding receipts for the first eight months last year. "The position in regard to expenditure is equally satisfactory. The amount for the eight months is £14.553,000, which is £1,614,000 less than the proportionate 1 part of the estimate for the year. The comparison in regard to debt charges, however, is upset by the fact that the item for debt repayment, £1,306,000, has not yet been drawn upon, and interest payments have this year been affected by conversion operations. On the other hand, a full year's charge for exchange for normal purposes is already included. "Departmental expenditure under votes is £353,000 less than the proportionate part of the estimate, and, although a few large special payments allowed for have yet to be made, the fijnires indicate that expenditure is being held within the carefnlly-pnined estimates. * Within the Estimate. "The additional amount provided for the Consolidated Fund in the Supplementary Estimates is £55,000 more than was allowed in the Budget, the total being swelled by the additional amount required for defence, and an unavoidable increase in hospital subsidies and the subsidy on fertilisers. I am confident, however, that the excess amount voted will be offset by savings in other items, so that the aggregate amount of expenditure provided for in the Budget, namely, £24,400,000, will not be exceeded. "On the other hand," concluded Mr. Coates, "if the buoyancy in revenue is sustained—and there is every reason to believe this will be the case—we should be able to improve upon the picture out lined in the Budget, and come out with a deficit of less than £2,000,000."