CUSTOMS RETURNS Increase In Revenue Announced

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28474, 2 January 1958, Page 12

CUSTOMS RETURNS Increase In Revenue Announced

Christchurch customs revenue last month amounted to £890,493, and exceeded the figure of December, 1956, by £159,555. For the first nine months of the 1957-58 financial year revenue was £6,550,615, compared with £6,367,853 in the corresponding period the previous financial year.

Detailed figures, showing revenue collected in December, 1956, in the first nine months of the 1956-57 financial year; in December, 1957; and in the first nine months of this year are as follows:

Customs and excise, £323,870, £3,161,877, £459,675, £3,269,127; petrol tax, £176,126, £1,397,490, £192,997, £1,456,877; tyres, £Bl, £3025, £255, £3178; sales tax, £226,576, £1,777,932, £231,579, £1,795,261; light dues, £1047, £11,232 K £1533, £10,888; miscellaneous, £3128, £16,297, £4454, £15,284. Totals, £730,838, £6,367,853, £890,493, £6,550,615. AUCKLAND Customs duty paid on imports through the Port of Auckland expanded by 10.6 per cent, during 1957 to reach a record level of dElO.Bm. Duty payments in both November and December exceeded £ Im, with those in the latter month, at £l.2m, being second only to the monthly record established in October. 1951, after the wool boom. Influenced by the expansion in customs duty, total revenue collected in Auckland during 1957 was also a record. It rose by £l.2m, or 4.8 per cent., to £26.7m, with all items of revenue, apart from petrol tax, showing increases over 1956. Sales tax increased by 7.3 per cent, to nearly £6.Bm, petrol tax was 7.8 per cent, lower at £5.5m. tyre duty rose by 28.7 per cent, to £15,497, and other duties were 5.7 per cent, higher at £3.5m. Revenue collected in the past two calendar years compares as follows: Customs. £10,801,357 (£9,765,230 in 1956); petrol tax, £5,546,945 (£6,017,927); tyre duty, £15,497 (£12,037); sales tax, £6,761,473 (£6,302,638); other duties, £3,547,370 (£3,357,512); totals, £26,672,642 (£25,455,344). WELLINGTON Customs revenue for the Port of Wellington for December, 1957, was more than £400,000 higher than the figure for December, 1956. Main items with the corresponding figures for the same month last year in parenthesis, are:— Customs, £1,184,074 (£958,399); sales tax, £929,242 (£704,049); petrol, £210,068 (£219,503); tyres, £525 (£165); total, £2,441,053 (£1,998,757) DUNEDIN Customs returns f ..for Otago during December are:—Petrol, £89,405; tyres, £7B; customs, £181,255; sales tax, £126,341; total, £388,079.