INCOME TAX DUE NEXT MONTH

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21987, 11 January 1937, Page 8

INCOME TAX DUE NEXT MONTH

INCREASES OVER OF FORMER YEARSV , CLASSES MOST AFFECTBDV ;

A few months ago citizens ."siAb U are fortunate, or uhfortunate,.enbufn jl to be assessed for ■ income M official notice sent to them showing. M how much the State would require ■ from them under this heading. Notj ■ that the time for payment is within-, i a few weeks; many taxpayers.Jae,; 1 scanning these warning document 1 again a little more" closely. - £* || Assuming that such calculations | as 31-113ths of a penny by 161 have been, correctly reduced M to fact by the department (and most I taxpayers will gladly give it - ««" | benefit of the doubt), the general. a|>. I pression gained is that the mcreasfe.' | over the previous year's figures iaS- I been startlingly large. " ' I Most citizens, though I any marked increase, in' theif &" | comes, were prepared for a substanv | tial increase in the tax levied^JW.l them, but they were hardly prfeteW^K to find it more than doubled, ari<V% ; | some cases even trebled. Yet this Iggi been the result in a very largeT»am- ? *| Iber of cases; and it is upon u&Jßftl I comes ranging from £3OO tojgM , that the new rates fali most nea^-fl |This arises chiefly from the l in the initial rate on. incomes «|| £2lO, from 7d in the pound-to »{■ Bd. almost treble. It is in the. «;< j ■ come taxpayers favour that the elL^I emptions of £2lO and of *s°*wk| wife whose income does not I £6O remain constant and ™^JESV| gradually disappear'with i^ o *"!^! income as they used to do. of this is that in a few rare mail's tax may be slightly less ttg»g| it was under the old scale. On wiy other hand a taxpayer now reCeW^i no exemption for the sums he a&™J contribute to the unemploymp^ Most hardly hit of all is the *£ with an unearned income, for IBrate is a third higher than tß* levied on earned income. As waclearly pointed out at the time, »- strange anbmaly of the new that oh the higher incomes, say A®?;; £BOO upward, the rate of i nc ™?£j'. and in some cases even the acnw» cash increase, is much higher than» ? is on the lower incomes. The averr f age man, therefore, will just havew; find what consolation he can W =»■* further proof that he is the backbon?| of the country, and pay up.wwnj the due date comes round, h!s comments for a future oppor-| tunity. . -<■.!