Farmers Call For Tax Changes

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30934, 15 December 1965, Page 3

Farmers Call For Tax Changes

(N.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN, Dec. 14. An appeal for income tax revision will be made by the Otago executive of Federated Farmers. The executive decided today on the motion of a former president, Mr H. F. Cameron, to ask the federation's Dominion council to urge the Government to review tax rates, with special emphasis on those applying to the middle income group.

Mr Cameron said that farmers were under pressure to reduce their spending as a part of the general credit squeeze.

An unprecedented amount of money had been made available for the purchase of

land. Those who lent it should have ensured that a proportion of this money had been kept aside for development of the land.

There was an increasing flow of New Zealand farmers to Australia, Mr Cameron said.

It was significant that while the maximum rate of taxation was reached in New Zealand on a taxable income of £3600, the maximum rate in Australia was not payable until the taxable income reached £16,000. Another disincentive in New Zealand was the treating of livestock increases as income, Mr Cameron said. The result was that breed-

ing stock was not being produced at a rate sufficient to meet the demand for increased production. He himself had increased the stock carried on his farm. The result was that he had increased his liability for tax by £6OO before that stock earned him one penny. It was the farmer in the middle income group who was like# to contribute most to the increase in production sought but he felt that he was not getting enough out of increased investment and harder work.

Three years of the agricultural development plan had elapsed and the expected increase in production had not materialised, Mr Cameron said. The federation's Dominion secretary, Mr J. G. Pryde, said that it was interesting to compare the incentives offered by the Australian Government with those available in New Zealand. In the Queensland area vast sums were being spent on trading and ports. There was a flat subsidy of £3 a ton on fertiliser. Depreciation rates were about double those allowed in New Zealand. "The Australian Government realises we are living in the twentieth-century—it allows four-wheel drive vehicles in free of duty while the New Zealand duty is about £300,” .Mr Pryde said. The farmers in the middle income group, with taxable

incomes of between £l2OO and £3600, who were the leaders of the New Zealand industry and would respond best to the call for increased production—if they were given incentives. In New Zealand it was those who earned less than £l2OO who were in the best position and those earning over £3600 could at least be sure of 6s 6d in the £. The motion was carried unanimously.