Mr Kirk Promises Tax Review

Press, Issue 30997, 1 March 1966, Page 22

Mr Kirk Promises Tax Review

INew Zealand Press Association) BLENHEIM, February 28. When it became the Government in November the Labour Party would appoint a Royal Commission to review the structure of taxation and to redraft the tax laws, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr N. E, Kirk, said at Picton at the week-end.

Mr Kirk was in Picton attending a dinner and social to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Party. The Party had made this decision because there was wide dissatisfaction with the present tax laws which had not been reviewed since 1951. Endless changes in the tax laws had been made since then, including the P.A.Y.E. scheme, Mr Kirk said. This system had been “plastered” on top of the income tax structure in 1957 and many wage and salary earners had complaints about it. Dissatisfaction was also voiced in other quarters because P.A.Y.E. cut out incentive. “The tax law is incomprehensible even tn the experts,” he said. The commission would be of the type that would be concerned with the deficiencies of the law and which could and should pay some attention to the wording of the law so that the average taxpayer could clearly understand it. The commission would also review the structure of the tax laws, not the incidence of taxation, Mr Kirk added. Of (course, some changes could (not wait for the commission’s findings. People from all walks of life expressed grievances about the tax structure.

The Minister of Finance, Mr Lake, had said it was not necessary but it had been 15 years since the last review and since then the P.A.Y.E. system, secondary employment tax, and profit tax had been added, and the tax laws had become more incomprehensible and more difficult year after year, even for the experts, Mr Kirk said.