100 MILLIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 185, 7 August 1935, Page 7

100 MILLIONS.

TOTAL OF INCOMES.

SHARP INCREASE LAST YEAR.

TAXATION NET MUCH WTDER.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

Official information relating to tie incomes earned by all classes in the Dominion has been made more complete since the wage tax has been coHeeted for relief of unemployment. Formerly the only basis for assessment of the aggregate incomes of the community was the guide given by the income tax returns. But there is a large field outside this sphere untapped by the income tax collector, and it now comes under survey for unemployment taxation.

It is shown by the latest survey ofi the Government Statistician that the aggregate incomes earned in New Zealand during the financial year 1933-34 amounted, to one hundred millions, an improvement of ten millions on the preceding year, which had shown a heavy drop compared with 1931-32. However, the latest rise is due not to the larger distribution of wages and salaries but to the improved returns from "other income" subject to wage tax, this item having improved last year by 6.7 millions.

Wages and Salaries, £57,300,000. Wages and salaries throughout the Dominion, 60.5 millions in 1931-32, fell to 55 millions in the following year, but have now shown a recovery of 2.3 millions. In assessing these figures the statistician has excluded capital receipts, such as those from deceased persons' estates, and repayment of debts. He considers that the estimates err on the conservative side.

The charge on wages for unemployment relief produced taxes showing that the aggregate amount of salaries and wages earned in the year was £57,300,000. The same class of tax on "other incomes" showed that this total was 29 millions for the year.

"Wages of exempted relief workers totalled £2,800,000, and it is estimated that the wages of domestics, who are free from wage tax, amounted to one million. Also included in the community's income are the pensions payable by the State, £1,800,000, and another item of income shown is undistributed company income, including their income tax payments.

The latest available figures relating to income tax returns demonstrate howmuch wider is the collection net now that wage tax is payable on most classes of wage or salary. The return of the Government Statistician accounts for 100 millions of annual income, but the gross total of assessable incomes, plus the total of exemptions shown in income tax returns, is just under 89 millions.