£2,500,000 DEFICIENCY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 44, 2 August 1939, Page 5

£2,500,000 DEFICIENCY

4D A GALLON ON PETROL 'BEER AND INCOME TAX RISE A deficiency of £2,500', 000 in the country's finances, to be met by increases in income tax £1000,000 death duties—£2oo 000—beer tax from Is 3d to Is 9d a gallon—£3oo, 000— and petrol tax by fourpence a gallon £1,000, 000 —is disclosed in the finan cial statement presented last night to the House by the Rt Hon M. J. :Savage, who acted in the place of the (Hon W. Nash, Minister of Finance, i The Budgetary position, said Mr Savt- mge, was that expenditure was estimated to total £38,243,000 and re. jk; venue £35,760,000, when last year's "" returns were used. Along with the increase in income tax the. amount of gcnci'al exemption is reduced from £210 to £200. • The, rate of company tax is also raised Later this session, an amendment to the Land and Income Tax Act will be introduced to correct a number of anomalies. This IVII will include a repeal of the provision exempting from income tax the income of farmers from land in cases where the holdings do not exceed an unimproved value of £3000. These amendments, however, will apply not to tax payable in February next, but to the tax payable in the following year, said #evv i\lr Savage. He added that the effect would lie to place farmers upon the same basis as other sections of the com. munity. It would generally be agreed that if a farmer makes a profit from his operations sufficient, after «Ic- ■ Auction of all the usual allowances to bring his income, within the scope of the taxation provisions he should pay tax on the same basis as anj r •other taxpayer. >• The Budget aims at a surplus of £17,000. Allowing for the efleet of the additional taxation, the estimated budgetary position, for the year is as follows: —

Revenue 'Taxation— £ Customs 10 000 000 i . Beer duty .. . . .. 1,300,000 ' Sales tax .. . . 3,."00 000 Highways 3,250.000 ' Stamp & d?ath duties 3,480,000 Land ..tax ..... .. .. 1 000 000 Income tfbf .. . .. 9,f'00,000 .Miscellaneous ISO 000 £32 320,000 'Interest recoveries . - . . 2,7P0 000 O-her receipts 3,160 000 £38:260,000 Expenditure "'Permanent appropriations— £ Debt services ... . . . . 10 0?2.000 Exchange .. .. . . . • 1,500.000 Transfer to highways revenue 3,233 000 Other permanent appropriations .. ... 376 000 £15,131 000 .Annual - yotes— Soc:al services \. 10 013 000 _ Other services .. -. . . . 12 299,000 £22,912,000 ■rtwv, fit \ Supplementary estimates and contingencies .. 200,000 i.38,2 '3 000 Estimated surplus .. £17,C00