The Public Accounts.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18673, 23 April 1926, Page 8

The Public Accounts.

The little lecture by the Hon. W. Nosworthy on the urgent need for increased production which we reported yesterday was sensible enough, but it was not so interesting as his brief references to the public revenue. The past financial year, he said, ended with a surplus of about £1,100,000. In the Budget it was estimated that the revenue would be £29,600,000 and the expenditure £29,024,616, leaving £575,384 for supplementary estimates and reductions in taxation. The year has thus turned out very much better than was anticipated. The details of revenue are not yet ready for publication, but the Minister mentioned that there had been a large increase in Customs revenue, and that there had been no falling-away in the receipts from income-tax. One result which the public may fairly expect to follow from the recurrence of a substantial surplus is a further reduction in the rates of direct taxation. For four years in succession the surplus has exceeded a million sterling: it was £1,315,683 in 1923, £1,812,365 in 1924, and £1,243,000 in 1925. The Government has made cautious reductions in the rate of taxation, and it ought to continue the process. A large surplus means that more than is necessary or desirable has been abstracted from the public's pockets and has been applied to the largely sterile or unproductive purposes of administration.' The best method of reducing expenditure is to reduce the means of spending; higher taxation than is necessary encourages increased outlay on the public services. The cost of the public services is still much higher than the actual needs of the country require, and is eating the substance of the nation.