EXCESS PROFITS TAX

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24536, 9 April 1945, Page 6

EXCESS PROFITS TAX

Sir,—Last year in some parts of North Canterbury it was the driest for very many years, and with many farmers it was a job to “break even financially. This year some of us see some hope, after an abnormally wet season—in white clover. Could you inform me if a farmer who has spent a considerable amount on liming over the last two or three years with little or no returns is now to be charged “excess profit” if he is fortunate enough to get a decent crop of white clover this year? Also, what is the position of a farmer who sows an extra acreage of wheat and gets a good crop’ Is he taxed “excess profits’’ on this also, if it increases his normal income? If so—why worry?— Yours, etc.; COCKY. Amberley, February 25, 1945. [Commenting on this letter the Deputy-Commissioner of Taxes says: ‘‘The case will come within the scope of the proviso to Section 5 (5) of the Excess Profits Tax Act, 1940, whereby the Commissioner of Taxes has power, after consideration of the special cumstances, to fix a normal income at such amount as he deems just and reasonable. Unless the prices received on sale of the white clover and wheat are excessive, it is most unlikely th&t any excess profits tax will be payable.”]