THE FARMERS' INCOME TAX.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15452, 3 December 1915, Page 4

THE FARMERS' INCOME TAX.

TO THJS EDITOR OF ''THE PRESS." Sir.—Kindly allow me space tor a fp.T comments oil the above subject, riiis tax lyis bcon sprung upon the laming community without New-, the farmers do not object to pa'v tlicir rair share of taxation, especially at a time when the British Empire is

at death grips with a foe ihat must be beaten at whatever cost in men, money and material. But what most farmers object to is the maimer in which the form has been placed before them. The State does not teach book-keeping in primary public schools, yet they ask for an exhaustive balance-sheet to be made out. March Hist and April Ist is quite the wrong time of year lor farmers to make out their returns. ;is in many cases they have not threshed their grain or sold their I'iit stock by thai, time, and so can only estimate their returns. 1 think a more suitable date would be July 3lsc and August 3*t; then all grain would probably be threshed, .ind' all fat stock disposed of, and hence a. more accurate statement. It would also be a better time for making up tlie sheep returns. A. much better form could bo presented to ascertain the net income derived from farming operations.—Yours, ctc., FARMER.