STILL MOUNTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 11

STILL MOUNTING.

■ 11 I I SALES TAX REVENUE ABOVE £3,000,000 A YEAR. BUDGET ESTIMATE EXCEEDED, Setting new records each year, the sales tax is now producing well ovei £3,000,000, annually for the support of New Zealand's Budget, and if the present rate of increase continues this ta-s will rank third in importance among the income sources of the Government. The first is Customs and the. second the income tax. The current year's Budget estimate of £8,900,000 from the sales tax should be easily exceeded. Like the Customs, the sales tax ie being carried along on the tide of budyfcnt trade? as imports grow and more goods are ..bought and sold so more faf ithe people's money finds Its way into the national treasury through this particular tax. First imposed in February, 1933, as % much-needed prop- to support the tottering budget of' that time, the sales tax has now been collected for pearly four years, and is to-day producing 50 to 80 per cent more revenue month by month than when it was introduced. In December the amount of sales tax paid in Auckland was £85,205 greater than in the previous month, and the returns lor the year reached "the new high figure of £865,205, or 23.3 per cent more than in 1935. Ths local figures for the past four years are:— i 1033 (10 months) 421,875 1934 ~ , 698,347 1985 701,371 1936 885,205 The monthly returns for the past year show a progressive advance, subject to seasonal setbacks since February, which appears to be normally the lowest month of the twelve. As the tax is collected from wholesalers and manufacturing retailers, the figures for the last three months of the year fairly well indicate the,volume of Christmas trade. Their total for the period just closed is £250,810, compared with £205,184 for the same months of last year, an increase of just over 22 per cent. The following are the monthly, returns for the past two years! —■ ■ 1036. 1933. ".-■• ■, -i '4*,?(r ' t January 70,838 61.264 February 33,29 ft 44.9T6 March 60.038 50.770 April 69,207 • 56,083 May «8,ft38 54.683 .Tune T2.445- 57,249 July 69.417 54,309 August ~,»;.. , 73,922 J 58,967 September 76,445 37,934 October «..;......,v...;. 81,521 67,330 November ..->•. ... .;i,?.,... iSt-PiP IHJ? December ..,...,....y.. ft 85,208 ', 67,614 Totals .~„.... £86*206 £l<ttjn